As the NASCAR Xfinity Series visited its first road course event of 2025 at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the very clear expectation was for 18-year-old prodigy Connor Zilisch to take his JR Motorsports Chevrolet to Victory Lane.
Zilisch lived up to those expectations pretty well, winning the Focused Health 250 at the Austin, Texas-based road course, but what wasn’t expected, was the identity of one of his biggest challengers on Saturday afternoon.
Carson Kvapil, driving the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops / Clarience Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, had a stunning on-track performance in the 65-lap contest, making a significant impression in his first career road course event in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The final rundown will show the Mooresville, North Carolina native finishing a disappointing 23rd on the afternoon, but that’s just the result of a late-race issue where Kvapil blew a right-front tire in the final laps of the event, derailing a potential top-five finish.
In reality, Kvapil was the only legitimate contender for Zilisch, taking the fight to his 18-year-old teammate in the event’s closing laps, and even taking a turn out in front of the pack, leading seven laps around the 2.4-mile road course, until the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet was able to size him up and make the final pass for the race-lead.
“I feel like we shouldn’t have run that good, maybe, I guess it was a little bit expected, but at the same time it’s a little bit of a surprise,” Kvapil said about his performance on Saturday.
The problem, though, came as Kvapil was defending hard against Zilisch into Turn 15 and locked up the brakes entering the corner, which ultimately led to a flat spot on the right-front tire of the Bass Pro Shops-sponsored entry.
“We had such a good Bass Pro Shops / Clarience Chevrolet,” Kvapil said post-race. “Man, it’s tough to get over that one, but we flat-spotted the right front trying to stay with the No. 88 there. I felt like we were a little bit better in some places, but in others, he could really get away from us, so I knew if I just tried to keep my ground up I would be able to catch up to him in the essess, but ultimately just used it up a little bit too much there.”
The run up to the front of the NASCAR Xfinity Series field is even more impressive, considering the 21-year-old driver was turned around in a four-car incident on the eighth lap, which also involved Nick Sanchez, Austin Hill, and Sheldon Creed.
RESULTS: Focused Health 250 at COTA
Kvapil made a total of 66 green-flag passes throughout the 65-lap contest on Saturday, the fourth-most of any driver in the Focused Health 250 – behind only Alex Labbe, Sheldon Creed, and Brennan Poole.
“I knew yesterday, after we ran practice, we worked on the car and got it a little bit better, I didn’t think we were really like the fastest car, or maybe even a top three car, but I knew we would be in the top-10 at least, have a good shot at the top-five,” Kvapil said. “It seemed like as soon as the green flag dropped, we were really good and we got turned around there early in the race, and went all the way to the back, and had to claw our way back up from there.”
“Kinda sucks, because we didn’t get any stage points because we would be fighting for the win, but ultimately just need to put that in the back pocket and remember what happened and build off of it.”
After a disappointing finish at Circuit of The Americas, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to its first short oval of the season at Phoenix Raceway. Kvapil sits 11th in series point standings after three races, with one top-five and one top-10.
The GOVX 200 at Phoenix will take place on Saturday, March 8 at 4:30 PM ET on The CW.
