Connor Zilisch gave himself a late birthday present and a special gift to NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. by winning the Pennzoil 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Xfinity Series rookie sensation Zilisch, who turned 19 on Tuesday, passed fellow rookie Taylor Gray with two laps remaining in the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet co-owned by Earnhardt and held off pole sitter Sam Mayer’s No. 41 Audibel Ford by .339 of a second for his third consecutive victory and fifth win this season.
The win was the 100th in the history of JR Motorsports, co-owned by Earnhardt.
“This is awesome,” Zilisch said. “Those bricks look really kissable, and I’m ready to kiss them. Winning at Indy is awesome and getting 100 wins for JRM is pretty cool, too, so I consider this a pretty awesome day.”
Gray finished third in the No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota, followed by reigning Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Larson in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. Ryan Sieg rounded out the top five in the No. 39 Sci Aps Ford.
Zilisch led when the 100-lap race was halted due to rain for the second time during a caution period from Laps 92-96 after a crash between the No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet of Austin Hill and the No. 19 Young Life Toyota of Aric Almirola in Turn 4.
On the restart on Lap 97, Gray got a big jump and an aerodynamic push from behind to take the lead from Zilisch entering Turn 1. Zilisch then dove under Gray in Turn 2 on Lap 98 and pulled even on the back straightaway. But Gray was able to parry Zilisch’s charge and kept the lead.
Zilisch attempted the same move exiting Turn 2 on Lap 99, pulling even with Gray on the back straightaway. But unlike on the previous lap, Mayer tucked behind Zilisch’s rear bumper, which gave Zilisch the aerodynamic boost he needed to clear Gray for good entering Turn 3.
“The second time I got a push from behind, and it helped me clear him,” Zilisch said. “It was actually really racy, and you were able to make moves.”
Mayer also passed Gray but was unable to catch Zilisch over the last 1.5 laps around the fabled 2.5-mile oval.
Zilisch, who led 19 laps, rallied from a slow pit stop early in the race to return to the front. But it appeared late in the race that Justin Allgaier and Larson were the leading candidates to stand on Victory Podium.
But on a restart on Lap 87, Larson’s car pushed high in Turn 2 and hip-checked Allgaier’s No. 7 Hellmann’s Spicy Mayo Chevrolet into the SAFER Barrier, also slowing Larson’s momentum. That incident allowed Zilisch to take the lead, with Gray jumping to second.
2018 Pennzoil 250 winner Allgaier was eliminated from the race in the crash after leading a race-high 37 laps driving another car fielded by JR Motorsports.
“Unfortunately, Indianapolis is one of those places that it doesn’t take much to have an incident like that,” Allgaier said.
While this was the first win at IMS for Zilisch in his first oval race at the Racing Capital of the World, he has stood on the podium here in past road races. Zilisch finished third in the 90-car Spec Miata class in the 2021 SCCA Runoffs at IMS, and he was part of the Era Motorsport team that finished third in the LMP2 class at the 2024 IMSA TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
In qualifying for the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG, Indiana native Chase Briscoe won the pole to continue a remarkable streak of qualifying performances in NASCAR Cup Series crown jewel races this season.
Briscoe, a native of Mitchell, Indiana, took the top spot for Sunday’s race with a best lap of 49.136 seconds, 183.165 mph in the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. That was good enough to edge Bubba Wallace, who fell just .013 of a second short of Briscoe at 49.149, 183.117 in the No. 23 Chumba Casino Toyota fielded by 23XI Racing, co-owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR star Denny Hamlin.
This was the third pole this season in a marquee Cup Series race for Briscoe, who also drove to the top qualifying spot in the Daytona 500 in February at Daytona International Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 in May at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I’m holding back tears, truthfully,” Briscoe said. “This is such a special moment for me. Even hearing the crowd as I got the pole, it was super cool. Hopefully can keep it up there tomorrow. That’s the one we want to win tomorrow.”
The 160-lap race starts at 2 p.m. ET Sunday.
Erik Jones qualified third at 49.248, 182.749 in the No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota. Tyler Reddick will join him in the second row after his qualifying lap of 49.267, 182.678 in the No. 45 Xfinity Mobile Toyota.
Ty Gibbs qualified fifth in the No. 54 SAIA LTL Freight Toyota, giving Toyota a sweep of the top five starting spots. Joe Gibbs Racing (Briscoe, Gibbs) and 23XI Racing (Wallace, Reddick) each put two cars in the top five.
Gibbs and Ty Dillon are competing Sunday in the final round of NASCAR’s inaugural In-Season Challenge. Gibbs and Dillon will race at the same time as all the other competitors in the NASCAR Cup Series classic, with the driver finishing ahead earning a $1 million bonus for his team.
Dillon qualified 26th in the No. 10 Sea Best Chevrolet of Kaulig Racing.
While Toyota took the top five spots in the lineup, it could have been six. Hamlin, who led pre-qualifying practice today, appeared to be headed for the pole when he suffered a vicious crash in Turn 2 in the No. 11 Progressive Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin was tracking three-tenths of a second ahead of Briscoe when his car wiggled in Turn 2 and brushed the SAFER Barrier with the right rear corner panel. The car then veered across the 2.5-mile oval and smashed the SAFER Barrier inside Turn 2 head-on. Hamlin was shaken up but otherwise unhurt.
“I was super close to doing that in all four corners,” Briscoe said of his qualifying run when asked about teammate Hamlin’s accident. “That was the closest I think I’ve ever got to Indy 500 qualifying, just being on the absolute ragged edge. I thought I was going to lose it a couple of times but was able to hold on to it.”
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