On July 22, 2017, William Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, fended off veteran Paul Menard by 0.108 seconds to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The victory occurred in Byron’s first-ever start at Indianapolis and his first full-time campaign in the Xfinity division. It made him the youngest-ever race winner across NASCAR’s top three national touring series at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing at age 19 years, seven months and 23 days.
The Indianapolis victory was also Byron’s third of four overall during the 2017 Xfinity season. It played a crucial role in elevating his racing status to the ultimate height. Driving for JR Motorsports, Byron claimed both the 2017 Xfinity Rookie-of-the-Year and driver’s championship titles.
He then graduated to a full-time Cup Series campaign with Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) during the following season. Byron, the reigning two-time Daytona 500 champion, is in his eighth campaign driving the iconic No. 24 Chevrolet entry for HMS.
As Byron celebrated his Indianapolis victory in July, another Charlotte native, Connor Zilisch, was racing in karts and celebrating his 11th birthday. Fast forward eight years, and Zilisch is one of the rising prospects among the Xfinity division and the NASCAR garage. Zilisch, who turned 19 years of age on July 22, 2025, drives for JR Motorsports and shows no signs of slowing down on the track.
Over his previous eight starts in this year’s Xfinity season, Zilisch’s average finishing result is 2.25. This includes visiting Victory Lane three times in his first three series’ trips to three distinct venues: Pocono Raceway (June 21), Sonoma Raceway (July 12) and this past weekend at Dover Motor Speedway (July 19). Within the eight-race stretch, he has also recorded three runner-up results and has finished no lower than fifth.
Zilisch’s recent eight-race streak of top-five results marks a major turnaround in his first full-time Xfinity campaign. His average finishing result through the first 11 scheduled events was 16.8. Despite winning at Circuit of the Americas (March 1), he sustained three DNFs.
He was forced to sit out from competing at Texas Motor Speedway (May 3) due to sustaining a lower back injury following a last-lap accident during the previous event at Talladega Superspeedway (April 26). He was ranked in 12th place in the regular-season standings at the time of his injury and one-race absence. However, he leapt his way up to second place and trails teammate Justin Allgaier for the lead by 56 points.
Six races are remaining until the 2025 Xfinity Playoffs commence, including this upcoming weekend’s event at Indianapolis. The sky remains the limit for Zilisch in his pursuit of both the Rookie-of-the-Year and the driver’s championship title.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s event at Indianapolis, Zilisch has an opportunity to achieve several notable feats at the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Should he win this Saturday, the Charlotte native would become the first competitor to win in a first Xfinity start at Indy since William Byron achieved the feat in 2017. He would also become the new youngest winner in the series at the track at the age of 19 years and four days.
Coming off back-to-back victories at Sonoma and Dover, Zilisch would become the first competitor to achieve three consecutive Xfinity victories since Noah Gragson achieved the latest feat (four overall) while he was driving for JR Motorsports in 2022.
Speaking of JR Motorsports, the organization, which debuted during the 2005 Xfinity finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, would achieve its milestone 100th victory in the series should Zilisch or his teammates (Carson Kvapil, Allgaier and Sammy Smith) emerge victorious at Indy.
Connor Zilisch will pursue his first victory in his first start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Saturday, July 26, at 4:30 p.m. ET for the Pennzoil 250 on the CW Network.
