We’re running out of superlatives to heap onto the shoulders of 19-year-old Connor Zilisch, who captured his eighth pole position of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season on Saturday afternoon at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. The driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet turned a fast lap of 85.054 seconds (96.503 mph), which was nearly a half-second faster than the next closest competitor.
Zilisch will attempt to collect his 10th win of his Rookie of the Year campaign on Saturday afternoon in the Blue Cross NC 250.
Justin Allgaier, Zilisch’s JR Motorsports teammate and the defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, will lineup alongside on the front row as he secured the second starting spot. Connor Mosack, Sammy Smith, and Carson Kvapil made it a complete sweep of the top-five starting spots for JR Motorsports, a team that has had its foot on the throat of the competition all season long in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Heading into this weekend’s race, JR Motorsports has won 16 of the 28 races of the season.
Corey Day, the young Hendrick Motorsports development driver, will start from sixth in the No. 17 HMS Chevrolet, while Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, Kaz Grala, and Austin Green rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday afternoon’s race.
This event will serve as the final race of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Round of 12. Zilisch, Brandon Jones, and Justin Allgaier have already locked their positions in the Round of 8 prior to Saturday’s race, but there are still five spots up for grabs.
Here are the starting spots for all of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff contenders:
Zilisch (1st), Allgaier (2nd), Sammy Smith (4th), Carson Kvapil (5th), Sam Mayer (7th), Jesse Love (8th), Aric Almirola (11th), Sheldon Creed (13th), Nick Sanchez (14th), Austin Hill (16th), Taylor Gray (17th), Brandon Jones (23rd), and Harrison Burton (28th).
With 42 cars attempting to secure a spot in the 38-car field, four drivers and teams were sent back to their shops after the qualifying session. Those that failed to make the race included Garrett Smithley, Thomas Annunziata, Austin J. Hill, and Andrew Patterson.
Here is the official starting lineup for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Blue Cross NC 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. Race 29 of 33.
Pos
Car
Driver
Lap time
Speed
1
88
Connor Zilisch # (P)
85.054
96.503
2
7
Justin Allgaier (P)
85.514
95.984
3
9
Connor Mosack (i)
85.797
95.668
4
8
Sammy Smith (P)
85.973
95.472
5
1
Carson Kvapil # (P)
86.047
95.390
6
17
Corey Day
86.260
95.154
7
41
Sam Mayer (P)
86.375
95.027
8
2
Jesse Love (P)
86.390
95.011
9
24
Kaz Grala (i)
86.412
94.987
10
87
Austin Green
86.472
94.921
11
19
Aric Almirola
86.516
94.873
12
44
Brennan Poole
86.533
94.854
13
00
Sheldon Creed (P)
86.565
94.819
14
48
Nick Sanchez # (P)
86.590
94.792
15
18
William Sawalich #
86.608
94.772
16
21
Austin Hill (P)
86.657
94.718
17
54
Taylor Gray # (P)
86.659
94.716
18
16
Christian Eckes #
86.663
94.712
19
50
Preston Pardus
86.735
94.633
20
99
Matt DiBenedetto
86.789
94.574
21
07
Alex Labbe
86.842
94.516
22
39
Ryan Sieg
86.920
94.432
23
20
Brandon Jones (P)
87.052
94.288
24
91
Josh Bilicki
87.058
94.282
25
53
Sage Karam
87.084
94.254
26
4
Parker Retzlaff
87.105
94.231
27
11
Daniel Hemric (i)
87.113
94.222
28
25
Harrison Burton (P)
87.157
94.175
29
71
Ryan Ellis
87.323
93.996
30
27
Jeb Burton
87.372
93.943
31
92
Leland Honeyman
87.506
93.799
32
45
Josh Williams
87.517
93.787
33
26
Dean Thompson #
87.562
93.739
34
42
Anthony Alfredo
87.645
93.651
35
31
Blaine Perkins
87.663
93.631
36
51
Jeremy Clements
88.143
93.121
37
28
Kyle Sieg
88.513
92.732
38
10
Daniel Dye #
89.002
92.223
DNQ
14
Garrett Smithley
87.994
93.279
DNQ
70
Thomas Annunziata
88.238
93.021
DNQ
35
Austin J. Hill
88.574
92.668
DNQ
32
Andrew Patterson
89.584
91.624
(P) indicates NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff driver
# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points
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