Zilisch takes regular season title with Gateway Xfinity win

Connor Zilisch‘s incredible run of form continues, collecting his ninth win of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and his fourth in a row. The victory came at WWT Raceway (Gateway), which was hosting an Xfinity race for the first time in 15 years.

Zilisch joins Sam Ard and Noah Gragson as the only drivers to ever win four consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series races.

“Yeah, that one was stressful,” said Zilisch. “Man, that’s awesome — four in a row, (and) I think that’s seven in the last eight for our WeatherTech Chevrolet … It’s my mom’s birthday today, so happy birthday Mom, I love you. A lot of fans here. It’s awesome to come to St. Louis and bring the Xfinity Series back here, so thank you guys for showing up tonight.”

The final restart was wild, as Zilisch and Aric Almirola slammed doors, but the No. 88 JR Motorsports still managed to get away. In the closing laps, it was two drivers in a must-win situation trying to chase Zilisch down. Ultimately, William Sawalich and Christian Eckes had to settle for second and third, respectively.

Brandon Jones finished fourth, Jesse Love fifth, Almirola sixth, Daniel Hemric seventh, Parker Retzlaff eighth, Corey Day ninth, and Daniel Dye tenth.

Stages 1 and 2

Zilisch led the race from pole position, and remained out front for the entire opening stage. 

However, Stage 1 did end under yellow after Jordan Anderson slammed the wall just before the green-and-white checkered flag.

Zilisch won the stage, followed by Almirola, Sawalich, Allgaier, and Sanchez.

Between stages, Carson Kvapil fell out of the race after losing power, taking the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet behind the wall.

Sawalich took the lead on pit road, and Zilisch lost valuable ground on the restart after Allgaier made a daring three-wide pass to his outside. The two teammates entered this race with just 20 points between them in the fight for the regular season title.

Allgaier quickly took the lead, and led the rest of the stage. However, he had to fight off a charging Almirola in the closing laps. The two drivers got side-by-side at one point, with Almirola washing up the track and making contact with the leader.

Despite this, Allgaier did not back down and went on to win Stage 2 with Almirola second, Zilisch third, Sawalich fourth, and Love fifth.

Stage 3

After winning Stage 2, Allgaier got caught speeding on pit road, sending him to the back of the field. Zilisch regained the lead in the pits, even before the penalty.

He controlled the restart and remains out front without much of a challenge from those chasing him.

The caution flew again with about 50 laps to go when Jeb Burton crashed heavily at the exit of Turn 2, ending his hopes of pointing his way into the playoffs. It was the second time tonight a Jordan Anderson Racing car suffered a major impact due to a tire failure.

The caution meant drivers could avoid making their final stop of the night under green. Zilisch held the lead on pit road with relative ease.

At this point, the cautions became quite frequent as Jeb’s cousin, Harrison Burton, went for a spin. Sammy Smith also fell off the lead lap as he battled significant issues with his brakes.

The restart that followed was chaotic, as Sheldon Creed struggled to get rolling due to gear issues. A wild stack-up ensued, quickly escalating in a multi-car pileup. Creed suffered notable damage along with Allgaier, Mayer, Sanchez, Taylor Gray, and Ryan Sieg.

Zilisch continued to hold back the field with every late-race restart, making some more history as the teenager gets ready to fight for the 2025 NXS championship.