Jesse Love defeats Connor Zilisch to win 2025 NASCAR Xfinity title

In an unexpected triumph, Jesse Love bested Connor Zilisch to win the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. 

Love passed Zilisch for the lead with 24 laps to go, and never looked back. This is Love's third career win, and his first ever on a non-superspeedway track. In the closing laps, Aric Almirola passed Zilisch for second, securing the owner's championship for Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 19 Toyota.

"I feel so clean, you know, relieved" said Love. "It's been a tough year for me. I've just put so much work into it. People like my dad and Scott Speed and the whole No. 2 team have worked just as hard for my dream as I have for my own... it doesn't feel real."

On the pass for the win, Love added: "He's my best friend in the whole world, but not when we're racing each other. We race each other hard, but fair. I knew I had to take it there. I knew he was going to put it on my door. I knew I had to throttle up and get my nose ahead. He was running a really good race. My car was just better tonight."

He also applauded the No. 88 team for the effort. On pit road, Zilisch was embraced by team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. and other members of JRM while he wiped tears aside.

Heartbreaking loss for Zilisch

Connor Zilisch, JR Motorsports Chevrolet (Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images)

Zilisch, who won ten races and ROTY honors, finished third in the race and second in the championship standings.

"I came into the weekend, and I told my entire team that we got to give it 100% this week," said Zilisch. "As long as we walk out of this place knowing we did that, I'd be proud of us. We did that today, and we fought all day long. Threw everything we had at it. Unfortunately, we just didn't quite have what we needed. It doesn't take away from anything we've done this year... I'm so proud of these guys, but I don't know, I guess the lights were too bright."

Zilisch continued: "You work all year long and you bust your ass for 33 weeks ... I feel like we did the best job we could all year long, and we just didn't have it today. I'm so proud of this team. We have nothing to hang our heads about, but this one is gonna sting." 

All of the emotions for Connor Zilisch. 🥺

Ten wins on the year but he’ll be one spot short of the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.

🎥: @SiriusXMNASCAR pic.twitter.com/6Y4ozyhHyK

— Motorsport (@Motorsport) November 2, 2025

Stages 1 and 2

Jones led the race from pole positon, but his teammate Gray snatched it away 12 laps into the race. Jones continued to fade, unable to convert his qualifying speed to race pace.

There was early contact between Almirola and Championship 4 driver Love, but they both got away with it.

Jeb Burton got into the wall, but the race remained green as he limped it back to the pits.

Gray went on to win Stage 1 over Creed, Creed, Allgaier, Zilisch, and Sanchez. Kvapil was running sixth and Love was in 12th.

At the start of Stage 2, Zilisch jumped into the lead, but he couldn't hold back Allgaier as he charged to the front. 

Allgaier went on to win the stage with ease, followed by Zilisch, Almirola, Creed, and Love. Kvapil was back in ninth.

Stage 3

Zilisch lost several spots on pit road as the team made adjustmenets to try and improve the car's pace. Meanwhile, a sensational stop for Love vaulted him into the race lead

However, he couldn't hold back Allgaier on the ensuing restart, as the defending champion reclaimed the lead.

The first natural caution of the race followed soon after as Leland Honeyman got spun out in the middle of the field.

While the leaders stayed out, Jones led another group of drivers down pit road for fresh tires, splitting the strategy throughout the field. He restarted back in 14th.

As the run progressed, Love crept closer to Allgaier and began to harass him for the race lead. However, their battle was interrupted as Ryan Sieg got absolutely sent into the outside wall by Christian Eckes. He was running sixth at the time.

Zilisch gained a couple spots on pit road while Allgaier lost a few, giving Love the race lead once again.

Jesse Love, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (Photo by: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

The race resumed with 42 laps remaining in the title-decider. Zilisch powered into the race lead on the restart as they went three-wide for second behind him, touching doors.

However, Love ran him back down and reclaimed the lead with 24 laps to go in the pass for the win ... and the title.

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	J. Love Richard Childress Racing	2		Chevrolet	200	2:01'49.954		5	40
2	A. Almirola Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	200	+0.861 2:01'50.815	0.861	5	46
3	C. Zilisch JR Motorsports	88		Chevrolet	200	+1.808 2:01'51.762	0.947	6	34
4	B. Jones Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	200	+5.694 2:01'55.648	3.886	7	38
5	J. Allgaier JR Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	200	+7.566 2:01'57.520	1.872	6	32
6	S. Smith JR Motorsports	8		Chevrolet	200	+9.169 2:01'59.123	1.603	7	33
7	T. Gray Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	200	+9.724 2:01'59.678	0.555	6	45
8	S. Creed Haas Factory Team	00		Ford	200	+11.087 2:02'01.041	1.363	6	45
9	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	21		Chevrolet	200	+11.870 2:02'01.824	0.783	6	28
10	J. Bonsignore Joe Gibbs Racing	18		Toyota	200	+17.846 2:02'07.800	5.976	6	27
11	H. Burton AM Racing	25		Ford	200	+17.921 2:02'07.875	0.075	7	26
12	K. Sieg RSS Racing	39		Ford	200	+18.810 2:02'08.764	0.889	7	29
13	C. Kvapil JR Motorsports	1		Chevrolet	200	+19.545 2:02'09.499	0.735	6	24
14	C. Day Hendrick Motorsports	17		Chevrolet	200	+19.885 2:02'09.839	0.340	7	23
15	N. Sanchez Big Machine Racing Team	48		Chevrolet	200	+20.117 2:02'10.071	0.232	6	32
16	C. Eckes Kaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	200	+20.442 2:02'10.396	0.325	7	21
17	D. Thompson Sam Hunt Racing	26		Toyota	200	+21.013 2:02'10.967	0.571	6	20
18	B. Poole Alpha Prime Racing	44		Chevrolet	200	+22.303 2:02'12.257	1.290	7	19
19	B. Queen Kaulig Racing	11		Chevrolet	200	+22.693 2:02'12.647	0.390	7	18
20	N. Leitz RSS Racing	28		Ford	200	+23.219 2:02'13.173	0.526	7	17
21	R. Ellis DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	200	+26.052 2:02'16.006	2.833	7	16
22	C. Mosack Viking Motorsports	99		Chevrolet	200	+27.264 2:02'17.218	1.212	7
23	A. Alfredo Young's Motorsports	42		Chevrolet	200	+29.996 2:02'19.950	2.732	6	14
24	L. Honeyman Jr. Cope Family Racing	70		Chevrolet	199	+1 Lap 2:01'55.340	1 Lap	7	13
25	B. Perkins Jordan Anderson Racing	31		Chevrolet	199	+1 Lap 2:01'55.394	0.054	7	12
26	J. Williams Alpha Prime Racing	45		Chevrolet	199	+1 Lap 2:01'55.996	0.602	7	11
27	P. Retzlaff Alpha Prime Racing	4		Chevrolet	199	+1 Lap 2:01'56.540	0.544	7	10
28	D. Dye Kaulig Racing	10		Chevrolet	199	+1 Lap 2:02'17.513	20.973	6	9
29	S. Parsons Joey Gase Motorsports	35		Chevrolet	198	+2 Laps 2:01'51.175	1 Lap	6
30	J. Gase Joey Gase Motorsports	53		Chevrolet	198	+2 Laps 2:01'53.647	2.472	7	7
31	G. Smithley SS-Green Light Racing	14		Chevrolet	198	+2 Laps 2:02'02.194	8.547	7	6
32	J. Bilicki DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	91		Chevrolet	196	+4 Laps 2:02'03.122	2 Laps	8	5
33	J. Clements Jeremy Clements Racing	51		Chevrolet	196	+4 Laps 2:02'09.795	6.673	7	4
34	G. Reen Alpha Prime Racing	5		Chevrolet	196	+4 Laps 2:02'15.171	5.376	7	3
35	E. Patrick SS-Green Light Racing	07		Chevrolet	192	+8 Laps 2:02'05.192	4 Laps	8
36	D. Cram Mike Harmon Racing	74		Chevrolet	191	+9 Laps 1:59'34.492	1 Lap	6	1
37	R. Sieg Haas Factory Team	41		Ford	150	+50 Laps 1:32'44.545	41 Laps	5	2	Accident
38	J. Burton Jordan Anderson Racing	27		Chevrolet	36	+164 Laps 17'53.378	114 Laps	3	1	Accident
View full results

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