Zilisch holds off van Gisbergen for Xfinity Series win at Sonoma

Connor Zilisch fended off his JR Motorsports teammate and polesitter Shane van Gisbergen to secure his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season and the fourth of his career in Saturday’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma Raceway, finishing 0.438 seconds ahead.

“First, hats off to Shane,” Zilisch remarked. “That was awesome. Throughout the race, I felt we were competing with mutual respect. I did have a slight wheel-hop in Turn 7 and made contact with him.” He added, “It was fantastic to finally race against him and compete throughout the entire race.”

In the previous week at the Chicago Street Course, van Gisbergen pushed Zilisch wide in Turn 2, then took the lead to win in a two-lap shootout. This week, Zilisch got his payback by holding off van Gisbergen after a bump in turn seven and his maneuver in turn 11 on the final lap.

“There was a moment when he could have overtaken me after he hit me, but he allowed me to keep the lead and raced cleanly. I have immense respect for him because of that, and I’m eager to race against him more,” Zilisch stated. “We’re going to compete at Watkins Glen, one of my favorite tracks, and I hope to beat him again there.”

“I gave him a bump into 7, and he wheel-hopped. I probably could have taken the lead, but I decided to wait,” said van Gisbergen. “I didn’t want to win that way, and then we raced down the hill. What an incredible race. I had a blast all day—really, really fun.”

Together, Zilisch (46 laps) and van Gisbergen (24 laps) led 70 of the 79 laps.