The NASCAR Xfinity Series visited the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Saturday for the Focused Health 250. JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch started the race on the pole, and his teammate Ross Chastain started in the second position.
Zilisch led the opening 18 laps until Baltazar Leguizamon’s car stalled on the front stretch leading to a caution. He went to pit road when it closed and was penalized. Zilisch had to restart from the back. With a combination of timed pit stops, other driver mistakes, and a ton of fender benders, Zilisch was able to make his way back to the front.
On lap 43, Austin Hill took the lead while Zilisch went wide at Turn 1 forcing Carson Kvapil high allowing Corey Heim to take second place and Zilisch was in third place. Not long after, Zilisch made contact with Heim allowing Kvapil to take second place. On lap 51, Kvapil passed Austin Hill for the lead and Zilisch took second place.
Three laps later, Carson Kvapil locked up the brakes allowing Zilisch to pull alongside him. On lap 56, Zilisch passed Kvapil for the lead at Turn 1. Zilisch led the last six laps to win his first race of the season beating William Byron by 1.639 seconds.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Sam Mayer third, Austin Hill fourth, Christian Eckes fifth, Jesse Love sixth, Taylor Gray seventh, Ross Chastain eighth, William Sawalich ninth, and Blaine Perkins tenth. William Byron won Stage 1 and Harrison Burton won Stage 2.
There were four cautions for 14 laps and 14 lead changes among nine drivers with Connor Zilisch leading the most laps in the race (26).
The Xfinity Series visits Phoenix Raceway next Saturday for the GOVX 200 at 5 pm on The CW. Purchase NASCAR Xfinity Series tickets today at StubHub.
