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Motorsport

Aric Almirola bests Connor Zilisch in dramatic NASCAR Xfinity win at Las Vegas

Aric Almirola Connor Zilisch Chevrolet Jesse Love Ford Toyota Justin Allgaier Hill (Person) JD Gibbs Nick Sanchez

Aric Almirola held on against Connor Zilisch, collecting his tenth career win and his third of the 2025 season. The ex-Cup driver took the lead after Zilisch was chasing a loose race car and bobbled in Turn 2, with the two cars made door-to-door contact down the backstretch as Almirola moved ahead. Zilisch tried to respond, but his car was out of control and Almirola managed to hang on.

"Thank you God, this is such an incredible opportunity," said Almirola. "Thank you Coach (Gibbs). It's such an awesome honor to go race for an owner's championship with JD Gibbs' name on the car. I'm having so much fun. This is the time of my life, man. Our car was good, but the longer I ran, the tighter I got. That restart there, I took off incredibly tight. I couldn't get going. The #48 [Nick Sanchez] kind of slowed my momentum down, and finally I got clear of him and was able to go chase the #88 [Zilisch] down. He looked pretty loose, and I was able to capitalize on that."

Zilisch finished a close second with Justin Allgaier third, Corey Day fourth, and Nick Sanchez fifth. This was Day's first career top five finish, coming in only his ninth career start.

Jesse Love, who finished sixth after being in contention for the win for most of the race, engaged in a heated conversation on pit road after the race.

Stages 1 and 2

Allgaier started the race from pole position, and the first caution of the race was for debris. On the restart, Love took it three-wide for the lead, but was unsuccessful. Almirola went on to win the stage with Zilisch close behind and Love in third.

In the second stage, Love won the race off pit road, but Almirola reclaimed the lead as the race got back underway.

There was some tense side-drafting with Zilisch and Love making contact, but also Allgaier and Hill. Later on, Hill pulled off an incredible save in Turn 3 as his car snapped sideways with Sieg directly behind him.

Almirola swept the stages, but this time, it was Love close behind in second and Zilisch third.

Stage 3

Almirola snatched the lead away from Zilisch with 94 laps to go, but he was later run down by Love, who claimed the lead with 59 laps left. The leaders pitted soon after, and Almirola aggressively re-passed Love as they raced to the entry of pit road.

However, it was a short-lived victory as Love reclaimed the top spot with a stellar pit stop.

It became a three-way fight for the lead between Love, Zilisch and Almirola. With 30 to go, Zilisch finally got Love loose in traffic and took the lead, only for the caution to immediately fly as Dean Thompson spun back in the pack.

Love lost another spot on pit road with Almirola sneaking ahead of him, and he only went backwards when the race got back going.

The final restart of the race came with 23 laps to go, and Zilisch got away cleanly. However, Almirola remained close, setting up an absolute dogfight for the race win.

Photos from Las Vegas - Race

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	A. AlmirolaJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	201	2:13'31.451		6	60
2	C. ZilischJR Motorsports	88	Chevrolet	201	+0.696 2:13'32.147	0.696	7	53
3	J. AllgaierJR Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	201	+1.484 2:13'32.935	0.788	7	48
4	C. DayHendrick Motorsports	17	Chevrolet	201	+3.551 2:13'35.002	2.067	7	35
5	N. SanchezBig Machine Racing Team	48	Chevrolet	201	+4.053 2:13'35.504	0.502	8	33
6	J. LoveRichard Childress Racing	2	Chevrolet	201	+5.047 2:13'36.498	0.994	7	48
7	R. SiegRSS Racing	39	Ford	201	+5.868 2:13'37.319	0.821	8	42
8	T. GrayJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	201	+6.577 2:13'38.028	0.709	7	31
9	S. MayerHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	201	+7.014 2:13'38.465	0.437	7	34
10	A. HillRichard Childress Racing	21	Chevrolet	201	+7.199 2:13'38.650	0.185	7	37
11	S. CreedHaas Factory Team	00	Ford	201	+7.804 2:13'39.255	0.605	8	26
12	W. SawalichJoe Gibbs Racing	18	Toyota	201	+9.431 2:13'40.882	1.627	7	25
13	B. JonesJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	201	+10.077 2:13'41.528	0.646	7	24
14	H. BurtonAM Racing	25	Ford	201	+10.350 2:13'41.801	0.273	7	23
15	C. KvapilJR Motorsports	1	Chevrolet	201	+10.481 2:13'41.932	0.131	7	23
16	D. HemricKaulig Racing	11	Chevrolet	201	+11.325 2:13'42.776	0.844	7
17	D. DyeKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	201	+11.408 2:13'42.859	0.083	7	20
18	C. EckesKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	201	+11.798 2:13'43.249	0.390	8	27
19	M. DiBenedettoViking Motorsports	99	Chevrolet	201	+12.437 2:13'43.888	0.639	7	18
20	S. SmithJR Motorsports	8	Chevrolet	201	+13.674 2:13'45.125	1.237	7	17
21	K. SiegRSS Racing	28	Ford	201	+19.051 2:13'50.502	5.377	6	16
22	T. BayneSam Hunt Racing	24	Toyota	201	+19.890 2:13'51.341	0.839	7
23	J. WilliamsDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	91	Chevrolet	201	+25.649 2:13'57.100	5.759	6	14
24	A. AlfredoYoung's Motorsports	42	Chevrolet	201	+29.046 2:14'00.497	3.397	6	13
25	B. PooleAlpha Prime Racing	44	Chevrolet	201	+30.860 2:14'02.311	1.814	6	12
26	J. BurtonJordan Anderson Racing	27	Chevrolet	201	+31.681 2:14'03.132	0.821	6	11
27	B. PerkinsJordan Anderson Racing	31	Chevrolet	201	+31.682 2:14'03.133	0.001	6	10
28	D. ThompsonSam Hunt Racing	26	Toyota	200	+1 Lap 2:13'45.889	1 Lap	10	9
29	R. EllisDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	200	+1 Lap 2:13'54.942	9.053	6	8
30	P. RetzlaffAlpha Prime Racing	4	Chevrolet	200	+1 Lap 2:14'00.825	5.883	6	7
31	A. GreenJordan Anderson Racing	32	Chevrolet	199	+2 Laps 2:13'51.314	1 Lap	8	6
32	G. SmithleySS-Green Light Racing	14	Chevrolet	199	+2 Laps 2:14'04.108	12.794	6	5
33	M. MaggioJoey Gase Motorsports	35	Ford	198	+3 Laps 2:13'37.409	1 Lap	7	4
34	N. LeitzSS-Green Light Racing	07	Chevrolet	198	+3 Laps 2:13'42.471	5.062	6	3
35	J. GaseJoey Gase Motorsports	53	Chevrolet	196	+5 Laps 2:13'52.326	2 Laps	9	2
36	J. ClementsJeremy Clements Racing	51	Chevrolet	146	+55 Laps 1:38'14.685	50 Laps	5	1
37	M. MasseyAlpha Prime Racing	45	Chevrolet	84	+117 Laps 1:20'52.509	62 Laps	6	1
38	T. AnnunziataCope Family Racing	70	Chevrolet	68	+133 Laps 54'52.592	16 Laps	10	1