From Chicago to out west in Wine Country. This weekend, NASCAR takes to one of the largest tenured road courses on the NASCAR schedule, Sonoma Raceway. After the ARCA West series put on a show yesterday, it’s time for the NASCAR Xfinity Series to take to the tight twists and turns of the famous track. The defending winner and overwhelming favorite heading into this race was Shane van Gisbergen. He started today’s race from the pole. But there was a whole field of drivers who wanted to be the one to end his road course race dominance. Where they able to do it? It was a tall order to ask.
With all that out of the way, it’s time to go racing! Here’s everything that went down in the Pit Boss Food Maxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway.
Let’s give it up to Mary Smith for this awesome command to start engines.
Zilisch and SVG led the field to the green to start the last stage. If the stage was to run green all the way to the finish, fuel was a big question mark. So, Zilisch and SVG agreed to slow the pace of the race in order to save as much fuel as possible. As we got down to the wire, though, SVG, unhappy with his car, attempted to push Zilisch to the to the limit. However, Zilisch, despite the pressure the 9 car was putting on him, continued to click off perfect lap after perfect lap.
Three to go, and SVG was there but not yet able to get by Zilisch. SVG roughed up the 88 a couple of times in the last two laps. But Connor Zilisch held strong. The 88 car went on to capture his third win of the season, his fourth career win and third on a road course.
SVG fired off fast. However, on Lap 3, Zilisch aggressively snatched the lead away. Losing his momentum, SVG fell to 3rd. He was able to work his way back to the lead, though. Together, SVG and Connor Zilisch were racing extremely hard, often hanging out sideways coming through the twists and turns of Sonoma. No matter how hard he tried, he could not shake Zilisch. The 88 remained on his heels for the entire run.
Prior to taking two laps to go in the stage, SVG and Zilisch pitted to flip the stage. Zilisch leapfrogged ahead of the 9 team. Sam Mayer inherited the lead and ultimately won the stage.
To start the second stage, Jesse Love retired from the race. The diagnosis was a broken rear end.
Zilisch and SVG once again led the field to the green. The hard-nosed racing continued. Heading into Turn 11, SVG had a run. But Zilisch blocked him. On the turn, SVG knocked him out of the groove, but Zilisch powered back into Turn 1, maintaining the lead. Nine laps into the stage, SVG powered by Zilisch. SVG put a thumbs-up out the window at Zilisch. Classy, good, hard racing!
Zilisch retook the lead inside 10 laps to go in the stage. This was due to the handling of the No. 9 car going away. Coming to 2 to go, the leaders once again opted to flip the stage. Justin Allgaier took the lead before being passed by Brandon Jones. Jones went on to win the stage. Allgaier finished 2nd.
SVG clocked the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the race. Due to SVG being committed to the Cup Series, he cannot collect points in the Xfinity Series. Therefore, no bonus point was awarded. This was with a blistering lap time of 76.86.
The following are the unofficial race results. This list will be updated once post-race inspection is complete.
UPDATE: Inspection is complete. The results are official.
Following Zilisch’s win today at Sonoma, here is what the Playoff picture looks like as we get ready for Dover.
That does it for our coverage of the Pit Boss 250 at Sonoma Raceway! What did you think about this race, Daily Downforce readers? How about that battle between SVG and Connor Zilisch!? Let us know what you think! Join the discussion on Discord or X, and remember to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for more updates. And don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for our coverage of the Toyota SaveMart 350!
