There’s no questioning the fact that 18-year-old Connor Zilisch was among the favorites for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event in Mexico City, considering his incredible prowess on the road courses.
On Saturday, Zilisch delivered on those expectations, winning the pole position for The Chilango 150 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, placing the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet at the top of the speed charts once again.
With a lap of 92.372 seconds (94.314mph), the Charlotte, North Carolina-native collected his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series pole position, making him the youngest driver to hit the five-pole mark in the second-tier series, eclipsing Joey Logano.
“Yeah, those two races [Watkins Glen and COTA] I made it very difficult on myself, so hopefully I can make it a little easier on myself today. [Ty Gibbs] is obviously really quick and had us on our toes throughout practice and qualifying,” said Zilisch. “Really proud of my entire JR Motorsports team, all five cars were really quick.”
STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NXS The Chilango 150 at Mexico City
To make things even more impressive, Zilisch had to directly outduel a pair of NASCAR Cup Series regulars in Saturday’s time trials session. Ty Gibbs was second quickest, just over a tenth of a second behind Zilisch, while Christopher Bell in third (driving for Sam Hunt Racing) was nearly six tenths of a second back.
JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil and Sammy Smith will start from fourth and fifth place in Saturday’s event in Mexico City. Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, Taylor Gray, Nick Sanchez, and Jesse Love completed the top-10.
Other notables starting outside the top-10 include William Sawalich in 11th, Justin Allgaier in 12th, Sheldon Creed in 13th, Brandon Jones in 15th, Ryan Sieg in 30th, and Christian Eckes in 34th.
Of the three Mexican-born drivers in the field for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event, Andres Perez de Lara qualified the best, and will start the race from a respectable 15th place in the No. 91 Chevrolet for DGM Racing.
Ruben Rovelo locked himself and Joey Gase Motorsports into the field with a respectable 31st-place qualifying effort. However, NASCAR Cup Series regular Daniel Suarez had a bit of a predicament in qualifying and will start dead last.
The Monterrey, Mexico-native had to take NASCAR’s ‘International Provisional’ after crashing into the barriers during qualifying. With the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports being a part-time entry, the team didn’t have the owner points to get into the field the traditional way and had to fall back on that newly created provisional.
As a result of taking that provisional, the No. 9 will get no points, playoff points, or prize money from Saturday’s Chilango 150, which will take place at 4:30 PM ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
