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NASCAR Xfinity Series Fans Respond With Thumbs-Up To Connor Zilisch Earning Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 Title At Sonoma Raceway

Jeff Hawkins Written by Sports EditorJeff Hawkins
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NASCAR Xfinity Series Fans Respond With Thumbs-Up To Connor Zilisch Earning Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 Title At Sonoma Raceway

At one point during Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Sonoma Raceway, Shane van Gisbergen, while racing side-by-side with Connor Zilisch, put his hand out of the window and flashed a thumbs-up sign. 

For the second road-course race in a row, the two JR Motorsports teammates went head-to-head over the final few laps. At Chicago Street Race last Saturday, van Gisbergen aggressively moved the rookie out of his way with a clean move. Zilisch said he learned from the second-place finish. 

That was evident during Saturday’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250. Zilisch paced his rival during the final 30 laps. Van Gisbergen, who won two Cup Series road races this season and swept the national series events from the pole at Chicago, waited for the 18-year-old to make a mistake. 

He didn’t. 

“Yeah, man. First, hats off to Shane,” Zilisch told CW. “That was awesome. All race long, I felt like we were racing each other with respect.” 

 X (Twitter) users responded to race-day sights in Northern California …

On Friday night at Sonoma, William Sawalich completed a last-lap rally from fourth to first, earning the ARCA Menards Series West race title at the 12-turn, 1.99-mile track …

Up front shenanigans. They would continue …

Going green at Sonoma …

The van Gisbergen-Zilisch rivalry – and spectator fun – started early Saturday …

Series contender Jesse Love endured Stage 1 issues …

Following JR Motorsports’ pit-stop strategy, Van Gisbergen and Zilisch pitted from the top two positions, allowing Sam Mayer an opportunity to claim Stage 1 …

Thumbs up! The teammates started 1-2 and continued battling for the top spots into the second stage. On Lap 29, van Gisbergen cleared Zilisch along Turn 2. Eight rotations later, Zilisch passed van Gisbergen, who clearly appreciated the teenage prospect’s good, hard racing …

Brandon Jones continued his notable run, clinching Stage 2, his third stage win over his past four races …

Emboldened from Friday’s ARCA West win, Sawalich made his Stage 3 move …

The main Stage 3 battle …

The victor …

Jeff Hawkins Written by Sports EditorJeff Hawkins
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He joined the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on NASCAR's increasing corporate influences, particularly in northern racetracks — commentary which you might find Jeff building on as part of the Motorsports writing team at Sportscasting now.  
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