Connor Zilisch — Strong Championship Favorite

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The 12 drivers who have qualified for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs met with the national media Tuesday and there was a common and clear storyline in their plans to hoist the championship trophy as they kick off the seven-race Playoff run.

They need to beat JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch.

Zilisch, the 19-year-old rookie driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet conceded his own path toward to a title in his first full season in the sport, really only seemed plausible mid-season but he heads into the Friday night’s Playoff opener – the Food City 300 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway – a strong championship favorite.

A road course ace with a background in formula cars and the Trans Am Series, it was of no surprise that Zilisch would immediately fare well on the series’ road courses, but the talented young driver quickly proved he was good on a wide assortment of venues. And the 2025 championship soon became a realistic goal.

“I feel like it was a pretty obvious turn after Talladega, getting hurt and having to sit out for a week and then I came back from that with a fresh mindset and just wanted to turn my season around,” said Zilisch, who has a rookie record nine wins this season.

“It was a rough first 10, 11 races and I knew we had the speed to contend and we were always fast enough to win. But one mistake, whether me or the pit crew – whatever that was – would take us out of contention for wins. I knew if we just cleaned up what we were doing and executed at 90 percent I knew we could go out and win a lot of races.

“I think that three-week break to just kind of think about things and re-set, really helped me and changed my mindset. Then when we started winning races the confidence and momentum of the team really started to pick up and that’s when it started to snowball.”

Zilisch’s victories have come not only on the road courses where he is most comfortable but also at traditionally tough venues from the 2.5-mile Pocono (Ra.) Raceway to places such as the Dover (Del.) one-miler and even first-time visits at tracks such as World Wide Technology Raceway just last week.

Zilisch goes into the Playoffs with a string of four consecutive victories and wins in seven of the last eight races. He earned 64 Playoff points – twice that of any other driver in the series.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised,” Zilisch said. “I came into this year and was hoping to win three or four races and make the Playoffs and start to contend for more wins as the Playoffs started. But I’ve picked up on things a lot quicker than I expected. My team has gotten a better understanding of what they need out of me and what I need out of them to go win races and things have just clicked a little bit quicker than I expected.

“It’s definitely caught me by surprise and I take every week in and I celebrate and I enjoy these wins but it’s really all leading up to [championship finale] Phoenix and trying to go out and win a championship.”