Connor Zilisch walks across the stage during driver introductions before the BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Photo: Chloe Gunn | The Podium Finish)
CONCORD, N.C. — After suffering a lower back injury at Talladega about a month ago, Connor Zilisch returned to his full-time ride in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, finishing runner-up to NASCAR Cup Series regular William Byron, a two-time defending Daytona 500 champion and a former Xfinity Series Champion.
The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports started the event on the front row, alongside fellow rookie competitor Taylor Gray. Zilisch ran inside the top five for a majority of the day, running just outside of the top ten for only a few laps of the race.
Zilisch rode behind teammate and defending Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier for the most part, until late cautions started to bunch up and force the field into a restart frenzy with only 50 laps to go.
The restarts helped Byron slowly but surely move through the field and back up to the front. After winning Stage 2, the driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet came down pit road for a scheduled pit stop but was charged with a speeding penalty and sent to the rear of the field.
The caution ended up helping Zilisch, as Allgaier had the better car, so keeping the No. 7 close was the only shot that the No. 88 team had at visiting Victory Lane.
Zilisch came down pit road with only 21 laps remaining, giving himself a tire advantage over Allgaier for the final run to the finish. The No. 88 slowly worked its way back into the top five by the time the second to last caution flag waved, giving the JR Motorsports rookie a good chance at finding a way around Allgaier.
On the restart, Zilisch moved his way up to second place with five laps remaining when a crash occurred and threw the caution flag one final time. The No. 88 was then in prime position to clear Allgaier, but the only problem was that the competitive car of Byron was right behind the JR Motorsports drivers in the third running position.
Connor Zilisch works his way out of Turn 4 in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Jarrett Chevrolet during the BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Chloe Gunn | The Podium Finish)
On the final restart, Zilisch was passed by the No. 17, and Byron eventually found a way around Allgaier for his first Xfinity Series win at his hometown track, while the No. 88 finished second.
Zilisch was not really upset that the race played out the way it did.
“Really proud of this group. We had a really good car today. Just came up a little bit short,” Zilisch said in his post-race comments.
The driver out of Charlotte, North Carolina was not looking for on-track results throughout the day. All Zilisch was looking forward to was being back in the driver’s seat of the No. 88 where he wanted to be while he was recovering from his injury.
“You don’t realize how much you love it till you’re out of it for a few weeks. So, yeah, grateful that I was able to get back this quickly after a wreck that hard.”
The 18-year-old rookie driver will strive to find Victory Lane next weekend at Nashville Superspeedway after the strong outing yesterday against the best the Xfinity Series had to offer.
