18-year-old Connor Zilisch earned his first oval win Saturday at Pocono Raceway, and he did it with help from ‘rookie’ crew chief and JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. atop the box. Zilisch made the pass for the win on Jesse Love with just a few laps to go before hanging on to capture the checkered flag.

“I’ve been dying for this one for a while now,” said Zilisch. “I know it hasn’t felt like that long but man, I’ve been so close on the ovals lately. I finished second at Charlotte, second at Nashville and yeah, Dale Jr.’s not so bad on the box. Pretty cool to have him up there. Thank you so much to the entire JR Motorsports team. 

About working with Dale Jr., Zilisch added: “It’s pretty funny, he [Earnhardt] was kicking me in the ass on some of those restarts, giving me some advice. The advice from him is advice well taken from me so it’s really cool to have him and get him 1-1 with a win as a crew chief. That’s pretty awesome as well. But yeah, Marty did everything right to set this car up as well and I wish he could have been on the box today.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Images

As for the winning crew chief, Earnhardt said of the experience:  “(Regular crew chief Mardy Lindley) did a great job putting us in a position to succeed and we had a lot of things go our way, a lot of good luck and great strategy. Had a little help from [Steve] Letarte up here … he was a big help. But everybody on this team, just amazing all weekend long. And one great race car driver in Connor Zilisch. He’s going to be a big deal in this sport for a long time. A lot of fun for me today.”

Earnhardt continued: “I miss the thrill of competition. I love broadcasting, don’t get me wrong, but nothing compares to driving or just being part of the team. Being an owner doesn’t really deliver like this. It was a lot of fun.”

Christian Eckes ended up with a career-best finish of third, pole-sitter Chase Elliott in fourth, and Ryan Sieg fifth. Carson Kvapil, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, Taylor Gray, and Justin Allgaier filled out the remainder of the top ten.

The run to the finish

The NASCAR Xfinity race at Pocono featured a record ten cautions with various incidents throughout the 100-lap event. The final stage of the race started the way things ended up finishing with Zilisch leading Love, but a lot happened in those final 45 laps.

As drivers worked to hit their fuel number, Zilisch stayed out until Elliott was about to run him down, diving to the pits. Earnhardt, who was already working as the crew chief, came down off the pit box to help as a tire catcher. 

But before Elliott could respond, there was a caution for a single-car spin. That pushed Zilisch back to the lead and put Elliott on the second row for a restart with 25 laps to go. Elliott managed to get back to the race lead in time for the next restart, which came with 15 laps to go. But yet another incident forced the leaders to do it all over again.

While Elliott was strong on every restart, this one would not go his way. With 13 laps to go, he lined up alongside Allgaier. The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion got sideways as the field entered Turn 1. He hit Elliott’s door and while both drivers managed to avoid an incident, they also lost several spots as the cars slid up the track.

This cleared the way for Love, who now led the race with just six laps to go. Zilisch gave him a friendly push to get clear of Eckes on what would be the final restart before taking the lead for himself soon after.

While this is Zilisch’s first win on an oval, it is his third career win as a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver. And according to reporter Seth Eggert, Dale Jr. is just the ninth person in history have won in NASCAR as a driver, owner, and crew chief.

Following NASCAR’s first international points-paying Cup Series race beyond the borders of the USA in Mexico last weekend, former NASCAR driver, commentator, and analyst Kyle Petty has proposed that the sport must consider racing in Canada and Europe.

The race in Mexico’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez saw a huge crowd turnout, prompting Petty to point out NASCAR fan bases in international locations. While Canada is one option, given the close proximity to America, he suggested a one-time race in Europe, especially after NASCAR pitched a custom Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to compete in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans. Speaking to George Howson on Motorsport Reports, Petty said:

“Obviously, if we’re opening up Mexico, then I think we should take a look at Canada. I would like to see that. There are so many race fans. If you go to Michigan, Watkins Glen, you’re right along the Canadian border. There’s so many Canadian fans that come over. … So I look at that and I say, Yeah, those are no-brainers to me.

“I would love to see us land somewhere in Europe, at least once. I’ve been going to Goodwood [in England], places like that. There are so many NASCAR fans, so many stock car fans, and it’s just a totally different form of racing than Formula One or sports cars or Le Mans and that type of racing.

“It’s just a totally different form. It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different, that’s just the way it is. I think it would be interesting to see the type of crowd that we could draw over there on an oval, or on a road course, because we have opened ourselves up with this car to be in a road course-type series. I know it’s never gonna go to full road courses, but there will be a lot more of them that add on.”

Howson added:

“We saw in Le Mans a few years ago [in 2023], these cars can run around actual world endurance championship circuits, so there’s no reason why we can’t say I’d love to see NASCAR in Europe. That’d be awesome.”

Speaking of road courses, while Petty acknowledged that more would be added to the NASCAR calendar in the future, his father, Richard Petty, famous for winning seven Cup Series championships, has dismissed road courses.

While addressing how Shane van Gisbergen’s victory in Mexico got him a spot in the playoffs, despite being 30th in the standings, Richard targeted the sport’s ‘if you win, you’re in’ policy and road courses. Newsweek Sports reported his comments:

“The way they got this thing fixed, where if you win, you’re in. That can’t be right. You got somebody that’s 30th in points that’s going to make the playoffs. Hey man, what happened to the guy that 15th, or 16th, or 18th (that’s) been running good (and) finished good everywhere?

“You’re making a championship situation by winning a road course, which is not really NASCAR to begin with. From that standpoint, I think they’re going to have to jockey around and change some of this kind of stuff.”

Midway through the 2024 Coca-Cola 600, Ryan Preece found himself yet again languishing at the back of the pack. What had been billed as a dream opportunity for him to join Stewart-Haas Racing, a multi-car powerhouse with a championship pedigree, had by this point turned to the grim reality of being collateral damage of the organization’s terminal decline.

Despite taking the wheel of a No. 41 car that had won the Daytona 500 and many more races in the past, it had become well and apparent that Preece did not have what he needed to win races. Rather, he had to shoulder many burdens in trying to carry his car and his team forward — all the way to the point of having to play crew chief from the cockpit and motivate his actual crew chief atop the pit box.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins in his first race as a NASCAR crew chief in Xfinity Series one-off at Pocono

Steven Taranto

“I’m gonna go with that did not wake the front up, and it didn’t do what we need to,” Preece said after a caution came out. “So, I don’t care how much track position we lose right now, I can’t even maintain what I have.”

“OK, but everything that I do that is the direction that I think is wrong,” replied his crew chief, seemingly sulking. “So, I can pick a direction on the front, but I don’t know that it’s gonna be right because everything else that I’ve done is wrong.”

“Well, you need to be right now the leader — like I know you can be — and let’s figure it the f–k out,” Preece said in return. “Because we’ve got 600 miles, 220 laps to pull this together. Let’s make a direction and figure it out.”

In just over a year since then, the situation for Preece has changed dramatically. After Stewart-Haas Racing sold its assets and shut down at the end of 2024, Preece not only landed with a new third team at RFK Racing, but has been better for it. As the driver of RFK’s No. 60 Ford, Preece is in the middle of the best season of his Cup career, with a career-high six top 10s through 16 races putting him right in the thick of the fight to make the NASCAR playoffs later this season.

On the surface, Preece reaching his potential as a Cup driver after many years of clawing his way up from stardom in the Whelen Modified Tour is the product of him being put in the right situation at RFK Racing, where he is both part of an organization on the rise and has a car owner in Brad Keselowski that believes in him. But speaking to CBS Sports, Preece shared that there’s another contributing factor at play: an open mind, particularly when it comes to the car he’s driving and trusting the people working on it.

“I went in with an open mind of ‘I’m gonna work on me, I’m gonna trust the process and I’m gonna continue to push myself.’ And that comes with doing more listening than I do talking, having a different perspective going into the weekends, and really just having a big, open mind when it comes to a lot of things,” Preece said. “There’s definitely times where I almost know too much for my own good when it comes to race cars, and you can come up with preconceived notions. So, I’m trying to definitely get back to the Ryan Preece that just drove race cars instead of just ones that I set up. 

“There’s certainly times where you can help find the direction of what you need to make the car better, but right now it’s just trying to focus on the little areas that I need to be better at, and then maximizing and using the strengths that I have in the right opportunity.”

Considering he made his way to Cup in a hard scrabble, old-fashioned manner — from short track stardom in Modifieds to lesser Xfinity cars, to better Xfinity cars and then lesser Cup cars — Preece can speak on good authority to what goes into hitting the balance, from spring splits to wedge to nose weight, aerodynamics and how it all comes together to make a car handle properly. Trusting the process, though, has gotten Preece closer and closer to the feel he wants in his cars. And following through on the roadmap of driver responsibilities laid out to him by Brad Keselowski before the start of the season has optimized Preece’s performance both on the racetrack and as a team leader.

As things stand, there’s a good chance Preece can get his first career win before the end of the regular season. In fact, it almost happened at Talladega, where Preece ran second in a photo finish before eventually being disqualified for improprieties with the rear spoiler found in post-race tech inspection. But there’s a subtext in saying that Preece can win. If he wants to contend for a championship come the fall, he probably needs to.

Entering last weekend’s race in Mexico City, Preece had been tied for the final spot above the playoff cut line with Kyle Busch, and he should have been able to take command of that spot after winning a stage and running 15th while Busch crashed out on lap seven. But a win by Shane van Gisbergen, a road course specialist who had entered Mexico 33rd in points, bumped the cut line down and bumped Preece 19 points below the new line entering Pocono this weekend.

Not that the added degree of difficulty is a problem for Preece. After all, his big break in NASCAR came when he opted to take his sponsor to a two-race opportunity in one of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity cars, knowing that he likely needed to win to get a real shot moving forwards — and did so.

“I thrive off pressure. I enjoy it,” Preece said. “There’s people that when it comes time for the Championship 4 or whatever — I haven’t been in that situation in the Cup Series, so I can’t speak on that. But what I can speak on is life-changing moments that I’ve had, and in those moments I’ve succeeded. And that’s because when someone’s back is against the wall, I’m not somebody that’s gonna curl up in a corner and just take what I get. I’m gonna fight.

“For me it’s approaching every weekend like it’s my last and trying to win. And not doing something stupid — I feel like I’m always pretty smart about the decisions that I make behind the wheel. I definitely have a checklist of things that we’re continuing to work on, I’m continuing to work on. When we nail it all down, I’m ready to go to war.”

Interestingly, the battle right now is between Preece and his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher, who had told CBS Sports in Nashville he is taking a must-win approach to the second half of the regular season despite being in a sound points position. When asked if he agreed with Buescher’s mentality, Preece affirmed the answer was yes — to a point.

“If you’re in our situation or anybody below us, I think you’re at that point where you need to think about winning,” Preece said. “Now, you can’t do it at the sacrifice of ‘Am I gonna take this risk and finish third, but at the same time I have the potential to finish 30th?’ Because you kind of have gotta do both. You need to put yourself in position to have great days, but take the opportunities to win the race when you can. 

“Because you’ve seen it, there’s some people that run 28th and then Daytona or a road course, if things go your way, you don’t even think about the other 17 or however many races that you may have not ran very well, but had one win and it changes your entire season or outlook on that season. Our goal is to win and win multiple times.”

A win before the end of the regular season would give Preece even more to smile about than he already has. Last weekend in Mexico City, Preece drove the Colgate Ford coinciding with a new ad campaign for Colgate, one of the many consumer brands Preece and RFK Racing have had adorn their cars this season through a partnership with Kroger — which, in an era where so many NASCAR sponsorships are business-to-business deals, harkens back to past times where consumer brands dominated the grid and connected race fans to their favorite drivers and teams through the products they used every day.

“I brush my teeth every day, I use mouthwash every day,” Preece said. “And obviously having a partner like Colgate, being able to do some of the commercials we do along with the other brands that Kroger and (BAM Marketing and Tad Geschickter) bring to the table, it’s a lot of fun for us. Because we not only are easily able to promote those things outside of just driving the race car, we’re also able to relate and push all the different ones that we use every day, and get our race fans that are loyal to us to go buy them too.”

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Carson Hocevar walked around Pocono Raceway without a scratch on his face. His polo shirt looked more tailored than tattered and the Spire Motorsports driver was ready to race rather than rumble.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hadn’t socked Hocevar with a right hook quite yet — hot on the heels of Stenhouse’s threat to beat up his racing rival after last weekend’s race in Mexico City — leaving the next shot at any potential retaliation inside or outside the cars set for Sunday’s NASCAR race.

Hocevar should walk with his head on a swivel because Stenhouse can throw a right hook.

Just ask Kyle Busch, who suffered a crushing TKO loss when he clashed with Stenhouse after last year’s All-Star race.

Get ready! The Pounding at Pocono could be just another round in the ongoing feud between Stenhouse and Hocevar.

“He probably will be looking over his shoulder for a long time,” Stenhouse said Saturday at Pocono. “We’ll see how that goes.”

Hocevar has to look over his shoulder — and for that charging Chevrolet in his rearview mirror.

“The scorecard has it that I I’m getting something from the 47 at some point, right? And I think my team and everybody kind of knows that,” Hocevar said.

Their beef has little chance of getting squashed any time soon, a dispute that started three races ago when Hocevar wrecked Stenhouse early at Nashville. Hocevar sent Stenhouse spinning last week in Mexico City, which ignited the postrace melee on pit road.

Stenhouse seemed to grab at Hocevar as he spoke to him, then slapped at his helmet as Stenhouse walked away.

Hocevar’s in-car camera captured audio of the confrontation.

“I’m going to beat your (behind),” Stenhouse threatened. “You’re a lap down, you’ve got nothing to do. Why you run right into me? It’s the second time. I’m going to beat your (behind) when we get back to the States.”

Hocevar avoided a smackdown from Stenhouse but his Spire team hit him where it hurts — a $50,000 fine on Tuesday for derogatory comments he made about Mexico City on a livestream as NASCAR raced there last weekend.

At just 23 and in his second full Cup season, Hocevar has whipped himself into a flurry of unwanted attention, continuing a trend that started last year when even veteran Denny Hamlin chimed in and said NASCAR had “ to do something to Carson.”

Stenhouse might do it on behalf of the sanctioning body with his fist or even his No. 47 Chevrolet.

Hocevar conceded, yes, payback may be imminent and the time to talk out their lingering issues is over.

Yet, Hocevar pleaded: “It’s not an open hunting season on the 77 because of these incidents.”

Hocevar stamped his own target on his back. With his aggressive racing. With his ignorant words.

“Just because I do something in the heat of the moment or maybe, you know, you do it two or three times, doesn’t mean I’m not hard on myself for those mistakes because they are mistakes,” he said. “It’s just trying not to make that a pattern. But when you’re constantly making aggressive moves like we’re doing, it’s balancing that fine line of, you know, you make a thousand moves a day. Just unfortunately, what people remember isn’t always the good ones. You always remember the negative ones.”

Case in point, Hocevar walked back his derisive comments about Mexico after he actually experienced the culture of the country following NASCAR’s foray into a new Cup Series market.

“I didn’t give it a shot. I didn’t give it a chance,” Hocevar said. “I didn’t go walk around. I didn’t go see it. When I did, you know, then hindsight’s 20/20, then I have my own opinion. But I’ve already put it out there.”

Spire also ordered Hocevar to attend cultural-sensitivity and bias-awareness training.

He can be thankful he gets a shot at another race. Stenhouse’s spotter, Tab Boyd, was fired this week by HYAK Motorsports in the wake of an unflattering social media post about his experience in Mexico.

“That’s above my paygrade,” Stenhouse said.

The biggest KO so far came in the standings, where Stenhouse has been flattened in just three weeks from 13th in points in the thick of playoff contention before Nashville to 21st entering Pocono. Hocevar is one point ahead of Stenhouse in the standings.

“That’s the thing that hurts worse for our team is just where it’s put us,” Stenhouse said.

Stenhouse’s trash talk more worthy of UFC hype could put him in hot water should he actually deliver on his vowed retribution and take out Hocevar.

If it comes to a point where NASCAR dishes out a monetary punishment, it’s OK, the 2023 Daytona 500 champion could afford his fine. He just sold his North Carolina estate for $12.2 million, the highest-priced residential sale ever recorded in the greater Charlotte metro area.

“It’s been a big week. We’ve had a lot going on,” Stenhouse said, laughing.

He’d rather talk real estate than about the space and time wasted thinking about Hocevar.

“I’m just honestly tired of talking about the kid,” Stenhouse said.

Tired of the talk? Sure. Of the action? Not just yet.

“Eventually it’ll all come together at some point,” Stenhouse said. “I’m not sure when or how. But it will.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Dan Gelston, The Associated Press

LONG POND, Pa. (June 20, 2025) – Kurt Busch, a member of the 2026 NASCAR Hall of Fame class, has been named the Grand Marshal for The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM NASCAR Cup Series race set for Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

Busch will deliver the official command for the drivers to start their engines in his role while Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro will serve as the Honorary Starter and wave the green flag to commence The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM at 2 p.m. ET (TV: Amazon Prime, Radio: MRN, SiriusXM).

“We’re honored to celebrate Kurt’s Hall-of-Fame career with our fans during The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.com race weekend,” Pocono Raceway President Ben May said. “Pocono Raceway is proud to be a small part of that illustrious career with Kurt being a three-time race winner and two-time polesitter at ‘The Tricky Triangle.’”

The 46-year-old Busch culminated a stellar NASCAR career with the May 20 announcement that he, along with Harry Gant and Ray Hendrick, would make up the 2026 Hall of Fame class. The induction ceremony will take place in Charlotte, N.C. on Jan. 23, 2026.

Over a 23-year Cup Series career, Busch recorded 34 victories, including the 2017 Daytona 500, 28 pole positions and earned the 2004 championship. He also posted at least four wins in all three NASCAR national series (Cup, Xfinity, CRAFTSMAN Truck); was named the 2014 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year after finishing sixth in the historic open-wheel race; and competed in the NHRA as just the fourth driver to transition from NASCAR to the drag racing series.

Busch also was a three-time winner (2005, ’07, ’16) and two-time polesitter (2005, ’11) at Pocono Raceway. He amassed 21 top-10 finishes, including 14 among the top five, in 41 career starts at “The Tricky Triangle.”

In addition to the Grand Marshal position, Busch will be honored by Pocono Raceway with “TY KURT” painted on the start/finish line and the Mattioli Foundation donating $10,000 to Vet Tix in his honor.

Pocono Raceway will play host to a NASCAR national series race each day, beginning with Friday’s CRAFTSMAN Truck Series MillerTech Battery 200 at 5 p.m. ET (TV: FS1). That race will be followed by the Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 Xfinity Series race Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (TV: The CW).

The weekend culminates with The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA.COM Cup Series race Sunday at 2 p.m. (TV: Amazon Prime).

In celebration of The Great American Getaway 400, Visit PA will host additional fan-focused experiences all weekend long at Pocono Raceway. NASCAR fans can explore an interactive Fan Zone featuring giveaways, games, and the ultimate summer thrill – UTV rides around the infield campground.

Fans will also have a chance to win tickets to iconic Pennsylvania attractions including Hersheypark, Kalahari Resorts, and more.

As part of Visit PA’s commitment to giving back, the organization donated its race-day sponsorship ticket package to Pennsylvania veterans, welcoming 125 service members to enjoy the race.

“The Great American Getaway is all about the perfect summer road trip, so I can’t think of a better backdrop for Visit PA than Pocono Raceway – or a better Grand Marshal than Kurt Busch to come and cheer on the drivers at the ‘Tricky Triangle,’” said Anne Ryan, Deputy Secretary of Tourism.