The NASCAR Xfinity Series visited Pocono Raceway on Saturday afternoon in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 250. Chase Elliott started the race on the pole with Brandon Jones starting second. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the crew chief for Connor Zilisch in this race.
Chase Elliott led the opening 22 laps. There were two cautions during the first stage. First, Daniel Dye spun at Turn 3 battling Sam Mayer for the 15th position on the third lap, and the second caution was for fluid on the track when Justin Bonsignore’s car blew an engine on the eighth lap.
On lap 23, Chase Elliott went to pit road, and Brandon Jones was the new leader. Jones led the final four laps to win the first stage over Nick Sanchez. Connor Zilisch was third, Ryan Sieg fourth, and Christian Eckes fifth.
Most of the leaders went to pit road. Harrison Burton was the leader. He and Chase Elliott led the field to start the second stage on lap 32. During the second stage, there were two cautions. On lap 34, Brandon Jones and Carson Kvapil were battling for 13th place when Jones spun off Turn 2.
Austin Hill, William Sawalich, and Daniel Dye were caught up in the incident trying to avoid Jones’s spinning car. Before the caution, Justin Allgaier passed both Elliott and Burton for the lead. The other caution happened on lap 42 when Leland Honeyman Jr. spun exiting off Turn 2.
Connor Zilisch took the lead on lap 42. He led the last ten laps to win the second stage over Taylor Gray. Nick Sanchez, Jesse Love, and Christian Eckes rounded out the top five.
Connor Zilisch was still the leader with Jesse Love in second leading the field the field to start the final stage on lap 57. There were four cautions during the final stage, including a three-car crash on lap 85 involving Nick Sanchez, Taylor Gray, and Sheldon Creed.
Chase Elliott and Jesse Love both led laps during the final stage. With three laps to go, Jesse Love was leading the race when Connor Zilisch passed him for the lead exiting Turn 1. He led the final three laps to win his second race of the season by 0.437 seconds over Love. Zilisch led 34 laps, and Chase Elliott led the most laps (38).
Christian Eckes, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top five. Carson Kvapil, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, Taylor Gray, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top ten. There were 10 cautions for 47 laps and 10 lead changes among seven drivers.
The Xfinity Series heads to EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) next Friday at 7:30 pm on The CW.
