Race 5 of 33: The Liuna! 200
Track Specs: 1.5-mile tri-oval / 200 laps
Race Winner: Justin Allgaier
Zilisch’s finish: 8th
Smith’s finish: 14th
Kvapil’s finish: 17th
Justin Allgaier
In dominating fashion, Justin Allgaier scored his first victory of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season on Saturday afternoon, capturing the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after leading a race-high 102 laps. Allgaier, who lined up from the sixth position, ran out front throughout the day, earning a Stage One win, before bringing home the 26th victory of his NXS career. With today’s win, the driver of the Jarrett Chevrolet has now qualified for next weekend’s $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Additionally, Allgaier has now punched his ticket to into the NXS Playoffs for the 10th consecutive season and has gone to Victory Lane for nine consecutive years, tying him with Kyle Busch and Mark Martin for the longest such streak in NXS history.
“What an unbelievable day. All four of our JR Motorsports Chevrolets were fast today and I just can’t say enough for all the hard work by everyone at the shop. We’ve wanted to win here in Las Vegas for a long time, and it is extremely special to do so today knowing that this was the first time our friends at Jarrett have gone to Victory Lane. Jim (Pohlman, crew chief) gave me a great car and I’m just happy and thankful that we were able to come away with the win. It’s just a special day.”
Connor Zilisch
Connor Zilisch and the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet overcame a late-race penalty to claim a hard-fought ninth-place finish Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Zilisch made his final pit stop under green on lap 146 of the 200-lap event but was too fast entering the pit lane. Despite the loss of track position due to the penalty, Zilisch pressed forward, and over the final 48 laps sliced his way through traffic to move up to ninth at the checkered flag. The finish capped off a solid day for Zilisch, who led twice for 28 laps and scored top-five finishes in both stages. He picked off two positions in the closing laps of Stage One to score a fourth-place finish on lap 45. In Stage Two, Zilisch ran among the top five throughout the 45-lap segment before claiming a third-place finish when the stage ended on lap 90. Zilisch was dicing with JRM teammate Justin Allgaier in the final stage before the penalty brought an untimely end to his chances to contend for the victory.
“We had such a good WeatherTech Chevrolet today. We’d fire off good and then we would get tight by the end of a run. I feel like we have a really good package moving forward at these 1.5-mile tracks. It was a solid points day and I learned a ton racing against the best drivers in the Xfinity Series. I just have to minimize mistakes. It’s hard not to be mad at yourself, but I feel like we have a really good package moving forward and I’m certainly looking forward to next week at Homestead.”
Sammy Smith
Sammy Smith, driver of the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet, earned his first pole award of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season following a strong qualifying effort on Friday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Once under way, Smith led the first 13 laps and battled for position in the top-10 all day before a late-race penalty saw the JR Motorsports driver take the checkered flag in the 14th position on Saturday afternoon. By the end of the 200-lap event, Smith gained valuable stage points and was able to maintain his fifth-place position in the championship standings.
Smith paced the field to the green flag for the LiUNA! 200 with all three of the JRM teammates following closely in the first three rows. The 20-year-old Iowa native led the initial 13 laps and battled in the top five throughout Stage One before finishing sixth and earning five stage points. During the stage-ending caution, crew chief Philip Bell brought Smith down pit road to loosen up the handling of the car and add four fresh tires and fuel. Taking the green flag for Stage Two in sixth, Smith quickly charged to second place and after 45 laps of fighting hard and listening to spotter Frankie Kimmel, he gained more stage points by closing out Stage Two in fourth position, adding six more points to his total for the day.
The No. 8 crew had a strong pit stop heading into the final stage, which saw them gain two spots. Taking what would be the final green flag of the race in second, Smith fought hard for position, racing within the top 10 for the next 50 laps. An untimely pit-road penalty during a green-flag stop forced Smith to make a pass-through penalty on the following lap. With determination and coaching from Kimmel, Smith fought back over the remaining distance to take the checkered flag in 14th position.
“We had a really fast Pilot Chevrolet today. Phil (Bell) gave me a great car right off the truck and I can’t thank all of the guys on this JR Motorsports team enough. It’s really unfortunate that we had a penalty there late in the race, but I’m proud of the fight we showed this week.”
Carson Kvapil
Carson Kvapil, driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Technologies Chevrolet, was poised for a strong run on Saturday afternoon after qualifying in the second position for the 200-lap NASCAR Xfinity Series feature at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 21-year-old North Carolina native held strong through the first two stages, fighting hard for position in the top 10 before taking the green-and-white checkered flags in third and sixth, respectively. After lining up for the final stage in ninth, Kvapil held steady, maintaining his top-10 track position before coming to pit road during the lone round of green-flag stops for tires and fuel. After an incident on pit road caused Kvapil to be short on fuel, he was forced to make an additional stop in order to finish the remaining laps. He would ultimately finish 17th after rejoining the field with less than 10 laps to go in the race.
“This No. 1 team gave me a rocket ship this weekend and to be able to start on the front row our first trip her was a great feeling. I hate that our day wound up the way it did at the end and I wasn’t able to get it done for Johnny Morris and everyone at Bass Pro Shops and Clarience Technologies, but we learned a lot for when we come back in the fall. I’m ready to rip the boards next week in Homestead.”