Connor Zilisch earns first oval NASCAR Xfinity win at Pocono

Capitalizing on a late-race restart, Connor Zilisch earned his second NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of 2025 and the third of his career Saturday at Pocono Raceway.

Zilisch led 34 of the 100-lap Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 to capture his first non-road course win in the series.

“I know it hasn’t felt like that long, but man, I’ve been so close on the ovals,” Zilisch said. “I’ve been chasing the oval win for a while now.”

The 18-year-old Zilisch accomplished the feat without his usual crew chief Mardy Lindley, who was serving a one-race suspension following a penalty stemming from the race at Nashville.

Enter Dale Earnhardt Jr., Zilisch’s team owner at JR Motorsports, who filled in for Lindley atop the pitbox.

Dale Jr. made his crew chief debut in the series, coaching Zilisch throughout the 250-mile race and helping during pit stops.

“The advice from him is advice well taken,” Zilisch said. “It was really to have him, and to get him a one-for-one win as a crew chief, is pretty awesome as well. Mardy did everything right to set this up, and I wish he could have been with us on the box, but I know he’s with us in spirit.”

Dale Jr. gave credit to Lindley, the team and his former crew chief Steve Letarte for help.

“We had a lot of things go our way, lot of good luck, great strategy,” Dale Jr. said. “(Connor Zilisch) is going to be a big deal in the sport for a long time.”

Zilisch extends his streak of consecutive Top-5 finishes to four.

In second was Jesse Love, who led eight laps and was who Zilisch overtook with five laps to go.

Christian Eckes posted his second straight Top-5 finish in third.

Polesitter Chase Elliott, who led the most laps (38), finished fourth.

Ryan Sieg rounded out the Top-5.

Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.

From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book “All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story” with racer Geoff Bodine.

Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.

You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.