Xfinity Series: Connor Zilisch takes first oval win at Pocono

Bailey Defoor
Jun 21
6 min read

Written by Bailey Defoor

Credit: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Connor Zilisch wins at the Tricky Triangle with Dale Jr. as his crew chief. This was his first time at Pocono and makes it his first oval win.

As it unfolded

Chase Elliott started on the pole with Brandon Jones on the inside as they led the drivers to green.

Ryan Sieg gets up to make it three-wide for second, eventually slotting into third behind Nick Sanchez. Jones struggled to get going and fell to fourth while Elliott got away with the lead.

R. Sieg darted to the inside of Sanchez on the entry of turn 3 and took second place on lap 3 while Jesse Love got a little loose from eighth.

4 laps in, Daniel Dye half spun through the grass and brought out the first caution of the day. Patrick Emerling also slapped the wall further back in the field and dropped into the pits.

On lap 8, Elliott and R. Sieg lined up for the restart, and R. Sieg spun his wheels a bit. Sanchez had pushed up to second when another caution was thrown when Justin Bonsignore began smoking with an apparent engine issue.

Elliott and Sanchez line up for this restart on lap 14, and Jones gives Elliott a big push. Zilisch makes it three wide with Sanchez and R. Sieg for third and ends up taking fourth.

Zilisch and R. Sieg continue battling back and forth for fourth place throughout the next couple of laps until William Sawalich joins the party on lap 16. Sawalich gets ahead of R. Sieg the same lap and begun to chase after Zilisch.

A few drivers including Taylor Gray, Justin Allgaier, Love and race leader, Elliott, pit with 2 to go in the stage. Jones assumes the lead.

Stage 1 Results:

No. 20 - Brandon Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 48 - Nick Sanchez (Big Machine Racing)
No. 88 - Connor Zilisch (JR Motorsports)
No. 39 - Ryan Sieg (RSS Racing)
No. 16 - Christian Eckes (Kaulig Racing)
No. 8 - Sammy Smith (JR Motorsports)
No. 18 - William Sawalich (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 00 - Sheldon Creed (Haas Factory Team)
No. 51 - Jeremy Clements (Jeremy Clements Racing)
No. 21 - Austin Hill (Richard Childress Racing)

The front runners pit under the stage caution. Sanchez comes off pit road inches ahead of Jones. Harrison Burton cycles to the lead.

H. Burton and Elliot lined up for the second stage on lap 32, but Elliott was passed by Allgaier into the first turn.

H. Burton had the lead for the opening lap, but Allgaier passed him for the lead at the start of lap 33. Then, H. Burton fell back to fourth as Elliott and Gray got passed.

On lap 34, Jones got loose in the tunnel. Austin Hill, Carson Kvapil Sawalich, and Dye were all damaged while attempting to avoid Jones.

On the restart on lap 38, Allger gets ahead with the lead cleanly. Sheldon Creed had a huge contact with the wall and had to go to the pit lane. No caution was called.

Elliott caught up to Allgaier on lap 40 and began fighting for the lead.

Leland Honeyman spun out in the same spot as he did during qualifying and pulled out the fifth caution on lap 41. Honeyman kept it out of the wall and no other cars were collected.

Some drivers pit, including Allgaier and Elliott, under the caution, cycling Zilisch and Sanchez to the lead with 5 to go.

Zilisch gets ahead first and starts building a gap to Sanchez. Sanchez fell back into the clutches of Gray, and fell back to third just as the stage was ending.

Stage 2 Results:

No. 88 - Connor Zilisch (JR Motorsports)
No. 54 - Taylor Gray (Joe Gibbs Racing)
No. 48 - Nick Sanchez (Big Machine Racing)
No. 2 - Jesse Love (Richard Childress Racing)
No. 16 - Christian Eckes (Kaulig Racing)
No. 39 - Ryan Sieg (RSS Racing)
No. 7 - Justin Allgaier (JR Motorsports)
No. 8 - Sammy Smith (JR Motorsports)
No. 1 - Carson Kvapil (JR Motorsports)
No. 27 - Jeb Burton (Jordan Anderson Racing)

Zilisch and Love line up for the start of stage 3 on lap 57. The two stay together into the first turn, and Love does a little wiggle on the exit. Zilisch goes back to the front.

Behind them, Allgier runs in third and Elliott runs in fifth, with Christian Eckes splitting the two up. Elliott got passed Eckes on lap 59.

Within a couple of laps, Zilisch has put a gap of a second between himself and Love.

Elliott got alongside Allgaier on lap 60 and got passed him going into turn 2.

On lap 63, Elliott got ahead of Love for second. One lap later, Allgaier also got ahead of Love.

Elliott begins closing in on the gap, and Zilisch pits on lap 69. Love also pits with Zilisch, and both come out as they were down in 32nd and 33rd. Elliott leads.

On lap 70, Garrett Smithly spins at turn 2, bringing out another caution. Almost all of the drivers pit under caution. Carson Ware and H. Burton come off first while Dean Thompson goes into his pit box vertically.

Zilisch and Love cycle back to the front. Zilisch chooses the outside. Love goes on the inside, and Elliott right behind him.

With 24 to go, Elliott gives a push to Love on the restart and sweept aound him for the lead. Allgaier then also gets ahead of Love while Zilisch falls back to fourth. Zilisch then passed Love one lap later and began charging towards teammate Allgaier.

On lap 78, the eighth caution comes out as Ryan Ellis gets turned around by Thompson going loose on the inside of him.

Elliott takes the outside, and Zilisch chooses the bottom. Allgaier chooses to go behind Elliott, and Love goes behind Zilisch.

Elliott and Zilisch led the way on lap 83, and Allgaier pushed the back of Elliott, but Zilisch kept up with Elliott.

Sanchez hit the wall on the restart, causing damage to Creed as well and bringing another caution.

This time around on lap 88, Allgaier takes the bottom alongside Elliott. Zilisch lines up behind Elliott, and Love goes behind Allgaier.

Love bails on Allgaier while Zilisch pushes Elliott hard. Elliott goes into the side of Allgaier, sending him a little loose. Love, Eckes, and Zilisch surge through to the top three as Elliott and Allgaier drop to the bottom of the top 10.

The tenth caution of the day comes when Kyle Sieg goes sideways, narrowly keeping it out of the wall on lap 90. This caution sets a new Xfinity series record at Pocono, where the previous record was nine cautions.

Love goes on the outside, and Eckes chooses the inside. Zilisch goes behind Love, and Sammy Smith goes behind Eckes.

With six laps to go, Love and Eckes lead the way. Love is cleared for the lead, and Zilsich comes up to second place.

Love and Zilisch go side by side, and Zilisch initially has the lead, but Love fights back. Zilisch starts building a gap with three to go.

On the final lap, Love started to get closer, but today was Zilisch’s day.

On his first tour around Pocono, Connor Zilisch wins his first oval victory with Dale Jr. as his crew chief.

Provisional Results