Connor Zilisch will be leading the field to green in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. That’s not really a surprise, considering the prowess the 19-year-old phenom has shown on road courses in 2025.
However, in the rarest of accomplishments (in an event that has never previously occurred in the history of NASCAR’s National Series), Zilisch brought his teammates along for the ride, with JR Motorsports also occupying the second, third, fourth, and fifth place starts on the starting grid.
Piloting the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, Zilisch went on track and laid down a lap time of 85.054 seconds (96.503mph) in qualifying to claim the pole position by nearly half a second over his teammate, and closest competitor in the championship, Justin Allgaier.
Allgaier will roll from the outside of the front row on Saturday, as the Riverton, Illinois-native makes his 500th career start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Just behind him, in third place, is the fifth, part-time entry for JR Motorsports, which this weekend is driven by Connor Mosack.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular will start on the second row when the green flag drops on Saturday evening, matching a career-best starting spot earned with the organization at the Chicago Street Course one season ago.
STARTING LINEUP: 2025 NXS Blue Cross NC 250 at Charlotte’s ROVAL
Sammy Smith, who has seen a notable uptick in his road course racing skills this season, will qualify in fourth place for Saturday’s event, with NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie Carson Kvapil completing the top five starters.
In just his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start on a road course, Corey Day, driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, qualified an impressive sixth-place, after making a last-second run in the second group of qualifying.
NASCAR Xfinity Series post-season drivers Sam Mayer and Jesse Love will roll from seventh and eighth. Mayer is the two-time defending race-winner at the Charlotte ROVAL, accomplishing both of those triumphs with the JR Motorsports camp, which has proven to be dominant as of late on the road courses.
Rounding out the top-10 in NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying are two fantastic stories.
Kaz Grala will start Saturday’s event from ninth, driving the No. 24 Overplay Games Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Grala is the reserve driver for NASCAR Cup Series organization LEGACY MOTOR CLUB and has run a few Xfinity Series road course events in the second Sam Hunt entry.
Austin Green, who won the ARCA Menards Series event on the Charlotte oval earlier this season, will complete the top-10 starters. Green is an accomplished road racer in the Xfinity Series, who is driving a fourth entry for Jordan Anderson Racing this weekend, the No. 87 Chevrolet.
Other NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff contenders that failed to qualify inside the top-10 for Saturday’s event include Sheldon Creed (13th), Nick Sanchez (14th), Austin Hill (16th), Taylor Gray (17th), and Brandon Jones (23rd).
The Blue Cross NC 250 at the Charlotte ROVAL will take place on Saturday, October 4 at 5:00 PM ET on The CW, Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
