A deluge of rain at Dover Motor Speedway prompted NASCAR officials to throw the red flag on lap 135 of 200, ultimately crowning Connor Zilisch the winner in a rain-shortened Xfinity race. With the race well past the halfway mark, NASCAR officials made the call. The event would be deemed official if it couldn’t resume. And there, in P1, stood Zilisch, sealing his fifth career Xfinity victory and fourth consecutive of the 2025 season by a 1.483-second margin over Aric Almirola.
The No. 88 driver wasted no time in the drop of the green flag. Starting third thanks to a 23.753-second qualifying lap, he maintained consistency from the start, leading 77 laps and logging his fastest, sizzling 23.953 seconds on lap one at 150.294 mph. He never fell out of the top five all day, averaging a running position of just 2.09, and executed two clean pit stops to stay in command even as the weather loomed. Zilisch said post-race, “I wish we could’ve finished it out, and it’s cool to get our fourth win of the year this early in the season.”
The weather gods played spoilsport in the third stage, draping Dover with rain that triggered a caution on lap 132 and a red flag. Just three laps later, with the track too wet to continue and daylight fading, Dover had no lights, and NASCAR had no choice but to call the race official under the red flag. But it felt like a dramatic climax confirmed that Connor Zilisch’s performance wouldn’t be undone.
That’s now FOUR consecutive @NASCAR national series wins for a No. 88 car. pic.twitter.com/YewBG2wYQV
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) July 19, 2025
This landmark win also saw Zilisch dethrone one of Dover’s most prominent figures, Kyle Busch. Adjust 18 years and 11 months old, Zilisch to win an Xfinity race at Dover, supplanting Busch’s long-standing record. It’s a mark made all the more impressive given its storied history as the Monster Mile. Incredibly, this was just the second NASCAR race ever shortened by rain in Dover’s 55+ year history. The only other being the 2012 truck series race, which ended under a similar deluge and marked Team Onion, Todd Bodine’s final truck win.
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