NASCAR News: Almirola holds off Zilisch in Vegas Xfinity race

In a heart-pounding showdown that lived up to the hype, veteran Aric Almirola outdueled a pair of rising stars to snag a dramatic victory in Saturday’s Focused Health 302 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The 41-year-old part-timer led a race-high 107 of 201 laps and fended off season dominator Connor Zilisch by a razor-thin 0.696 seconds in one of the series’ most electric battles of 2025.

Almirola’s triumph in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota not only marked his third win of the season and 10th of his career but also punched his team’s ticket to the owners’ championship finale on Nov. 1 at Phoenix—leaving the driver’s title wide open for four contenders, with at least two advancing on points.

The decisive blow came with nine laps left, as Almirola dove low to snatch the lead from the 19-year-old Zilisch, then masterfully defended against the young phenom’s relentless pressure in the frantic finish. “Such an awesome opportunity to go race for an owners’ championship with J.D. Gibbs’ name on the car,” Almirola beamed post-race. “I’m having so much fun—this is the time of my life.

“Our car was really good, but the longer I ran, the tighter I got. I struggled on the long run early in Stage 3, but on that restart with 23 to go, I took off tight and couldn’t get going at first. Then I chased down the 88 [Zilisch]—he looked pretty loose—and capitalized. It was awesome racing them.”

Zilisch’s runner-up effort stretched his series-record top-five streak to 18 straight and marked his 11th first-or-second finish in the last 13 races. But the sting of defeat hit hard; he even apologized to his JR Motorsports crew on the cool-down lap for not pushing harder at the end. “The frustration comes from how much this means to me and the chance to lock into Phoenix,” said Zilisch, who padded his championship lead to a commanding 82 points above the playoff cutoff. “I gave it my all and drove as hard as I could. But I guess that’s all we had today—I just have to do better.

“We put ourselves in the right spots, but unfortunately, I didn’t come away with it. Plus, 82 points isn’t bad—it could have been a lot worse—but another ‘win’ sticker would’ve been way better.”

Zilisch’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier, the polesitter and defending winner, crossed the line third, followed by Hendrick Motorsports prospect Corey Day in fourth and Big Machine Racing’s Nick Sanchez in fifth.

Jesse Love, who paced the field three times for 22 laps while dueling in the top three for much of the day, tumbled to sixth in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after a heated clash with Sanchez in the closing stages. The contact left Love fuming, sparking a tense exchange on pit road. “I had words with him, and obviously I’m extremely pissed off,” Love vented. He sits 20 points above the cutoff. “It was my fault for being in that spot racing him… I don’t run into people and don’t put them in bad spots for no reason—that’s why I’m upset.

“I did a lot of things really, really good tonight and a lot of things really, really bad tonight.”

Sanchez, no longer in playoff contention, stood his ground: “I was just racing hard, and even though I’m out of the playoffs, I still intend to go for wins in these final races.”

Rounding out the top 10 were Ryan Sieg, Taylor Gray, playoff contender Sam Mayer, and Austin Hill.

With Zilisch’s buffer now insurmountable, the playoff chase tightens behind him: Allgaier holds second, 44 points up; Love climbed to third on the day; and Mayer sits fourth, eight points in the black. JGR’s Brandon Jones (13th finisher) slipped to fifth, eight points adrift, while Sheldon Creed (11th) trails by 21. JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil (15th) and Sammy Smith (20th) languish at 22 and 24 points below the line, respectively.

The Xfinity playoffs roar on next Saturday with the United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on CW Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Smith enters as the defending victor on the 2.66-mile beast.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Focused Health 302 Results

Average Speed of Race Winner:  135.489 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 13 Mins, 31 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.696 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  4 for 22 laps.

Lead Changes:  15 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   J. Allgaier (P) 1-28;A. Almirola (P) 29-49;J. Love (P) 50-53;A. Almirola (P) 54-94;C. Zilisch # (P) 95-106;A. Almirola (P) 107-142;J. Love (P) 143;C. Zilisch # (P) 144;N. Sanchez # 145;B. Jones (P) 146;D. Dye # 147-148;D. Hemric(i) 149-152;K. Sieg 153-154;J. Love (P) 155-171;C. Zilisch # (P) 172-192;A. Almirola (P) 193-201.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Aric Almirola (P) 4 times for 107 laps; Connor Zilisch # (P) 3 times for 34 laps; Justin Allgaier (P) 1 time for 28 laps; Jesse Love (P) 3 times for 22 laps; Daniel Hemric(i) 1 time for 4 laps; Daniel Dye # 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Sieg 1 time for 2 laps; Nick Sanchez # 1 time for 1 lap; Brandon Jones (P) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,88,2,7,39,21,16,41,54,48

Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,2,88,7,39,21,16,41,17,1