Lest anyone doubt the all-around natural racing talent of 18-year-old Connor Zilisch, the rookie claimed a series best fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory on the season in Saturday’s rain-shortened BetRivers 200 at the one-mile Dover Motor Speedway.
Zilisch led 77 of the race’s 134 laps in his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet before NASCAR was forced to call the scheduled 200-lap race early because of rain. A pair of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas, driven by former NASCAR Cup Series veteran Aric Almirola and Xfinity regular Brandon Jones rounded out the top three.
Although he qualified third — three rookies topped the starting grid — Zilisch ran first or second for most of the race, ultimately taking the lead for good on the restart following the Stage 2 break.
“We’ve been showing it lately,’’ a smiling Zilisch said when he was informed on pit road the race was official and he was the winner. “First of all, I hate that we couldn’t finish the race the right way. Aric [Almirola] was really fast and was going to give me a run for my money. Props to him for making me work for it.
“Still really proud of this JR Motorsports team. … We capitalized on all fronts, had good pit stops both stages and put ourselves in a position to be in the right spot when the rain fell. Very thankful.”
Zilisch’s win total is best in the series. And the North Carolina teenager has been so good this summer that that he’s now on an eight-race top-five streak that includes three wins and three runner-up finishes for an average finish of 2.25. He’s led laps in 15 of the 19 races he’s started this season.
Even before making his full-time NASCAR debut this season, Zilisch was a multi-race winner in the sports car ranks with huge victories in the biggest races on the schedule — last year’s Daytona 24 hour and Sebring 12 hour endurance classics.
Not too surprisingly, he immediately proved himself a road-course ace when given the NASCAR Xfinity Series opportunity, winning from pole position in his first series start at historic Watkins Glen International last September.
He answered that resoundingly this year as a full-time competitor, hoisting trophies at Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma Raceway, a pair of road courses, but also proving his oval-metal, winning at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway last month and now adding the one-miler to an increasingly broad resume.
Zilisch’s effort at Dover’s “Monster Mile” moves him into second place in the championship standings — 56 points behind points leader and his JR Motorsports teammate, reigning series champion Justin Allgaier, who finished fourth Saturday.
Zilisch’s best friend, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love was fifth at Dover, followed by Ryan Sieg, polesitter Taylor Gray, Sheldon Creed and rookies William Sawalich and Christian Eckes rounding out the top 10.
“It’s been awesome, and I feel like even when we miss a little bit, we’re still a top-five car, and being able to go the race track and know that in the back of your head has definitely been comforting and confidence inspiring every weekend,’’ Zilisch said. “Gotta keep knocking the door down with wins.”
Jeb Burton, who finished 20th, now holds a seven-point advantage on his cousin Harrison Burton for the 12th and final playoff-eligible position in points.
The Xfinity Series travels to Indianapolis Motor Speedway next Saturday for the Pennzoil 250 (4:30 p.m. ET, The CW, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Zilisch as the winner.
DOVER, Del. — Although Carson Hocevar recognizes Josh Berry’s sincerity in wanting to reach out following an on-track incident at Sonoma Raceway last weekend, the 22-year-old Spire Motorsports driver maintains his opinion when it comes to on-track scuffles and discussions thereafter.
The circumstance came during the NASCAR Cup Series’ Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, where a late-race bump from Berry’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford during the contest’s waning laps resulted in the No. 77 Chevrolet spinning through the grass and finishing 32nd. Berry stated that he attempted to reach out to Hocevar but received no response.
“I mean, it’s just racing,” Hocevar said at Dover Motor Speedway regarding the Sonoma incident and Berry’s attempted exchange afterward. “I mean, sometimes, you know, stuff happens. We’re all in the limit of everything of all people, right? I’m on the limit of everything. So, yeah, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t really like the whole ‘have to call’ and do that and have to apologize on Monday, say whatever, right? Because, I mean, even if you do it intentionally or not, you’re never going to say that to the person.
“So, it just kind of just becomes a pony show a little bit. So, you know, if I don’t like it … it’s a little weird for me. I’ve never been on this side of it, but yeah. I’m just kind of just going through the actions of it. I don’t really like doing it, or I don’t like how it is, so, yeah, I mean, I appreciate the apology or whatever, but I think we just go race, that’s part of it.”
Hocevar has taken the Cup Series world by storm during his sophomore 2025 campaign, and while the Michigan native currently stands 96 points below the playoff elimination line, his aggressive nature and speedy No. 77 Chevy have illustrated to drivers and fans alike what his racing style is.
Of course, such an aggressive style has led to numerous feather-ruffling moments for the young Hocevar during the 2025 campaign. Among other incidents, Hocevar has had run-ins with Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) in February and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville Superspeedway and then again two weeks later at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
With an outgoing personality and a no-regrets mindset, Hocevar’s viewpoint is simple when it comes to on-track friendships.
“I just don’t like fakeness,” Hocevar said. “I like genuineness, and I know how I am as a driver and I think we’re all two-faced, so I just might as well just cut it at the cord and know my friends are my friends. It’s always just awkward when you’re on the limits and run into your friends and whatever. I’ve just had that from quarter midgets and everything, and you race your friends differently. I mean, I do it on iRacing even. I don’t sometimes like racing my friends because sometimes they want me to push them or do everything, and it just reminds me of, just like, man, imagine if we were doing it where our jobs were at stake and investment money and everything.
“We have that feeling of that when it means nothing on a video game. So, yeah, it’s a lot easier to know my friends are in my circle. We just go racing. That’s it. I don’t need anyone.”
While outside noise geared toward Hocevar might be louder compared to other Cup Series pilots, the young racer understands the importance of carrying himself with confidence and maintaining his opinion.
“I’m just doing all the genuine stuff I’d want to do,” Hocevar said. “If people want to enjoy that, or like it or dislike it, that’s good. It’s sustainable for me because I would be doing it if one person was watching or 10,000. I’d be racing the same way, whether zero people are making noise or not. So the fact they’re making noise by what I want to do and what I’m doing is cool. Hopefully, we sell T-shirts and help move the sport forward. But other than that, if I had to pretend to act a certain way or drive a certain way to appease fans, I’d probably hang it up and go find something different.”
Kyle Busch’s three victories at Dover Motor Speedway make him the winningest driver in Sunday’s field. And not only does he have an enviable assortment of trophies, but his 14 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes are also best in the field.
Certainly, it’s a healthy dose of statistical feathers-in-your-cap, but the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is still racing for his first trophy in the series since June 2023.
The two-time series champion is ranked 18th in the playoff standings — only 37 points behind the all-important 16th place position, currently held by Bubba Wallace, and only three points behind Ryan Preece, the first driver outside the elimination line.
Busch conceded Saturday that he’s well aware of his situation — but encouraged by back-to-back top-10 finishes at the Chicago and Sonoma road courses in the two weeks heading to Dover’s famed “Monster Mile.”
“I mean, you’re obviously looking at it [the standings] every week,’’ said Busch, who has a combined nine additional wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series at Dover, too. “I think we leave probably the fifth race of the year looking at points, like where we’re at and what are we doing?
“But honestly, points take care of themselves when you run good. Results are what matters. Being able to get stage points and being able to get good finishes will all equate to higher point totals and you not having to look at the sheet. So obviously with a ‘win and you’re in,’ you really don’t have to pay any attention to it.
“That’s certainly on our radar right now. We’ve had a couple of good weeks where we’ve made up some of the deficit. I feel like there is potential and opportunity for us to continue that way, and we want to continue to climb that way and put ourselves above the cut for making the playoffs.”
The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season champion Tyler Reddick has advanced to the In-Season Challenge semifinals this week — and will be racing head-to-head with fellow Toyota driver, Ty Gibbs.
Reddick said the excellence his team has shown in the inaugural head-to-head midseason $1 million-to-win tournament has been enjoyable. And now, possibly quite profitable. But more importantly for Reddick, the success in recent weeks is a good omen for his No. 45 23XI Racing team, which is still looking for its first win of the season after tying a career-best single-season mark last year with three victories.
“I think it’s fair to say, I think we are to some degree, frustrated we haven’t won, for sure, but we’ve been using it as motivation to finding speed,’’ said Reddick, who is ranked 13th in the standings and tops among the four drivers still without a victory yet. “We haven’t backed away from fact we haven’t won a race; we’re using it to motivate ourselves right now.”
As for the In-Season Challenge, Reddick smiled about his face-off with Gibbs.
“The last three weeks I feel like we’ve been racing around each other a bunch, so I don’t know if I’m going to need any (real-time updates) and I feel like that’s going to continue,’’ said Reddick, who will roll off fourth Sunday.
Reddick said he saw a statistic this week that he and Gibbs — who starts ninth — have run in close proximity for more than 490 laps of racing at Dover in the last two years.
“It does feel like every time I’ve been here to Dover, since Ty’s been in the Cup Series, I can at least see him on the race track when I’m making laps,’’ Reddick said, adding, “I feel like we’re going to be around each other a lot this weekend and hopefully have some good hard racing.”
Interestingly, three of the four drivers still competing for the In-Season Challenge paycheck are named Ty — Reddick, Gibbs and Ty Dillon (who starts 21st) in the other half of the bracket.
“Has John Hunter changed his name yet?’’ Reddick joked of John Hunter Nemechek, the only driver still in the bracket not named Ty. The Legacy Motor Club driver will start 28th.
The In-Season Challenge grand finale between the winner of the Reddick-Gibbs and Nemechek-Dillon matchups will be next week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Track: Dover Motor Speedway Location: Dover, Delaware Track length: 1 mile When: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET Where to tune in: TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Race purse: $11,055,250 Race distance: 400 laps | 400 miles Stages: 120 | 250 | 400 Defending winner: Denny Hamlin, April 2024 Starting lineup: Chase Elliott to lead field to green Sunday
Dover marks return to traditional tracks, sets stage for who title favorites will be
If you made it past the last month and still find yourself above the Cup Series playoff cutline, congratulations. You just survived a stretch of races that included two road courses, a street course, a 2.5-mile triangle and a 1.5-mile superspeedway. From Mexico to Sonoma, the playoff picture and the perennial weekly contenders fluctuated dramatically. Instead of Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson or Christopher Bell pacing the field, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen blitzed the field, winning three races across the last five weeks (Mexico, Chicago, Sonoma). SVG ballooned his playoff points to 17 and will be in good shape come Labor Day weekend to start the postseason. He can also focus on his steady improvement on the ovals without the added stress of pointing or winning his way into the 16-driver playoff grid.
The two other winners, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott, scored their first wins of 2025 at Pocono and Atlanta, respectively. The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver continues his consistent and impressive campaign with 20 consecutive top-20 finishes entering Dover, and he’s placed fifth or better in four of the last five events.
At the playoff cutline, Kyle Busch stayed within striking distance of the top 16 after stringing together top 10s at Chicago and Sonoma. He’s also been good at Dover with back-to-back poles in 2023 and 2024, with a fourth-place run in the most recent edition in Delaware.
While Busch hasn’t won since Gateway in 2023, a fourth Miles the Monster trophy would certainly be meaningful for the two-time Cup titleholder.
“There’s definitely some cool trophies that are out there, Dover being one of those with the cool Monster trophy that you get,” Busch said Saturday at track. “That’s a special piece. I always looked up to that trophy. I was able to win a couple of Truck ones, a couple of Xfinity ones, but then finally was able to capture the big one with a Sunday win for my first time. They’re all special and they all mean a lot, but this place is very tough, especially in that era going up against Jimmie Johnson. It was really hard to get those trophies as he was hoarding them all.”
The drivers that dominated the early portion of the season have gone quiet so far this summer.
Daytona 500 winner William Byron still holds the regular season points lead, but it has shrunk dramatically with finishes of 27th or worse in four of the last six races. His teammate Elliott continues to gain and sits just 14 marks back of the No. 24 with six races to go. Then, there’s the trio of three-time winners in Hamlin, Bell and Larson who have had a less-than-stellar last few weeks. The most recent winner among the bunch was Hamlin at Michigan in early June and you have to go back to Kansas in May to find Larson’s most recent triumph.
It’s interesting how close these three have trended with each other. Larson has finished outside the top 10 in four of the last five races (no top fives since Michigan), Bell owns just one top 10 in the last four races and Hamlin has either finished fourth or better or 20th or worse since Nashville.
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
It sets up quite the dynamic as the three will try to separate themselves as the Cup Series title favorite when the playoffs begin with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. All three should be in play for strong Dover runs and then the Brickyard 400 looms the following week, where Larson won last year with Bell placing fourth. Hamlin led 21 laps in that race before crashing during an overtime restart.
Only one road course (Watkins Glen) and one superspeedway (Daytona) remain before the postseason begins. Either Hamlin, Bell and Larson will regain their status as the cream of the crop this year or drivers continuing their stride, like Elliott, will emerge as the new favorite to hoist the Bill France Cup in November.
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?
Dover is anything but straightforward, especially when it comes to race strategy at the banked facility.
As crew chief of Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Tyler Allen believes the uniqueness of the “Monster Mile” comes in the form of the concrete that makes up the track.
“In a lot of ways, it’s the surface,” Allen told NASCAR.com. “The track surface is really sensitive to sun, heat, rubber. With a new tire combination, you never know quite what you’re going to get, if the rubber is going to go down or not.”
Travis Mack, crew chief of John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota, also believes that Dover, while not a road course, brings plenty of variables to the table, especially when it comes to pitting.
“There’s always that strategy play here,” Mack told NASCAR.com. “There’s those guys that risk it to run long, and then there’s the guys that pitted more optimal halfway or short of halfway and make up track position that way. So, there’s a lot of different scenarios here that could play out, and it makes it fun and exciting.”
Allen echoed the pit road sentiment while also mentioning how its slender nature only adds to the complexity.
“It’s a very tricky pit road,” Allen said. “It’s fairly narrow. You’ve got the bends to deal with. There’s about 10 openings, so you want to qualify in the top 10 to have at least an opening in, but you really have to manage your lights, and green-flag stops are likely, and people make mistakes here, so it’s really tricky to weigh out the risk of pitting and being a lap down if the caution comes out, or running long and trying to catch a caution.”
Gibbs and Nemechek, in addition to jockeying for a potential playoff berth, will aim to conquer their respective Round 4 In-Season Challenge matchup; the sixth-seeded Gibbs will battle 23rd-seeded Tyler Reddick, while the 12th-seeded Nemechek will look to end 32nd-seeded Ty Dillon’s Cinderella run.
“We’re focused on trying to finish the race as best we can, you know, get up there and compete,” Mack added. “But we’re also watching that 10 car. We’ll be watching the 10 this weekend. As we have through all the rounds, you know, we’ve kind of had that guy highlighted on the screen, just trying to pay attention to their race as well. And it’ll probably come down to a point to where we’re trying to cover each other, maybe on pit strategy, or just to focus on being ahead of them at the end of the race.”
The concrete kings will dominate. Hamlin took the checkered flag in the Bristol spring race and Dover last season, followed by Larson dominating the Bristol Night Race and then outclassing the field earlier this year at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.” According to NASCAR Insights, Hamlin ranks top five in every metric at a concrete track this year (speed, long run, passing, defense, restarts) and tops in speed and defense.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
COLE CUSTER. It may be outlandish to pin Custer as one to watch, but let’s not forget when he shocked the NASCAR industry with his thrilling Kentucky win in July 2020 for his first and lone Cup triumph so far. It likely won’t happen this Sunday, but crazier thing have happened on the circuit and Custer’s numbers are quite good at the “Monster Mile.” The No. 41 Haas Factory Team driver owns a pair of top 10s in four Cup starts at Dover and hasn’t finished worse than 15th in any of those attempts.
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• NASCAR at Dover: Key info, practice reports and more from doubleheader weekend | Read more
• See you down the road: NASCAR puts pause on Chicago Street Race for 2026, open to future return | Read more
• In-Season Challenge: Your hub for everything related to the 32-driver showdown | Read more • Racing Insights: Where your favorite driver is projected to finish Sunday | Read more
• Field of 16: Can Bowman lock all four Hendrick cars into playoffs? | Read more • Turning Point to Dover: Ty Dillon continuing to do the improbable | Read more
• At-track photos: Scenes, sights from the Blue Hen State | View gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Rewind with full-race Dover replays from the vault | Watch now
• Paint Scheme Preview: Cup runneth Dover — liveries for this weekend | View gallery
• Power Rankings: Will post-double doldrums finally end for Larson on Sunday? | This week’s Top 20
DOVER, Del. — Remaining apologetic continues to be Ross Chastain’s takeaway one week removed from his on-track incident with Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez at Sonoma Raceway.
Chastain’s No. 1 Chevy tangled with Suárez’s No. 99 machine on Lap 45 in Turn 11 during last Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the California road course, resulting in the latter falling from 14th to 29th in the running order; Suárez later finished the contest in 14th, while Chastain tallied a 24th-place result.
The Florida native mentioned Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway that he’s had conversations with Suárez and the No. 99 team during the week and that he meant no ill will regarding the maneuver, taking responsibility for the incident.
“It is just conversations,” Chastain said, “and I’m not gonna let one bad instance get in the way of a lot of good times. One bad time is not gonna affect that for me, and Daniel and I’s relationship will survive.
“I wrecked him, I mean, he should be upset, that team should be upset. So I went to the crew chief and him, and wanted them to make sure they knew that they knew. I wanted to make sure that, like, it was the last thing I wanted to do. And for the first half of the brake zone, I thought I was fine. And then the second half of the brake zone, I realized I’m going too fast, and I should have reacted better, and I didn’t. So that’s just a non-negotiable to wrecking, spinning teammates out. We had conversations this week.”
Chastain — who additionally made his apology known on the June 16 episode of the “Like a Farmer” podcast — understands both perspectives, whether it be on the committing or receiving end of any particular conflict. To the 32-year-old, bringing the right intention to any conversation regarding an on-track incident is critical as opposed to attempting to rectify a situation that has already occurred.
“I don’t try to solve things. The thing already happened,” Chastain said. “When I’m on the other side of it, I just don’t need people coming to me and explaining their side or anything. I can watch the video, I know what I felt and saw in the car, and get some outside perspective, but I don’t need the other driver to come say a lot, so I think I’m in the very much minority of that.
“So, I have to go talk to other people. I don’t ever know for sure if I gave them all that they were looking for, but I just know the intention is there. If I say, I’m sorry, or whatever the thing is. I know earlier in the season, I had a couple guys that I felt like had gotten into me a couple times. I didn’t wreck, but gotten into me, and it was starting to be a pattern. And like, I’ve already forgot, like all that, all those scenarios, so I just don’t hold that in my memory like other guys, I feel like.”
Chastain enters Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover (4 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) 10th in the playoff standings, with one victory — the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway — in his 2025 ledger. Suárez, meanwhile, sits 29th in the playoff table, 139 points below the elimination line. Suárez and Trackhouse announced July 1 that they had mutually agreed to part company at the end of the 2025 season.
Practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Dover Motor Speedway was canceled due to inclement weather Saturday afternoon.
Through a metric established by NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was awarded pole position for Sunday’s race. He’ll start out front in the No. 9 Hendrick Chevrolet alongside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe in the No. 19 Toyota.
NASCAR combines owners’ points, a driver’s finishing position in the preceding race, and his fastest lap time in that race to rank the teams and establish a lineup when qualifying is not possible.
Championship points leader and Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron will start fifth Sunday, sharing the third row with Trackhouse Racing rookie Shane van Gisbergen. SVG has won the last two races (road-course events at Chicago and Sonoma), coming into the Dover 400-lapper.
The defending Dover winner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, will roll off 13th. A three-time Dover winner, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, will start 10th.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, a three-time race winner in 2025 who leads NASCAR’s playoff standings, will start 25th. The 2019 Dover winner has only a single top-five (fifth place at Michigan) and three top-10s in the eight races since his last victory at Kansas in May.
With a new tire compound for cars this weekend, drivers were hoping for some laps on track. “Brand new tire or not, practice is always important,’’ Larson said, acknowledging he is hopeful his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team can return to early-season form this week at the famed “Monster Mile.”
“I wouldn’t deny that we’re in a slump, results kind of show that,’’ Larson said. “But I think some of it has been a little bit out of our control, and some of it is execution with a car that’s been a little bit off on speed. But confidence in our 5 team is strong, and hopefully we can turn it around at Dover.”
