It was yet another duel in the desert as the Xfinity series headed to Las Vegas for the first time in 2025 and the usual suspects wrangled their way around the track.

JR Motorsports dominated practice and qualifying, as Sammy Smith nabbed the pole. The long-time team has been motivated to earn their 90th series win all year.

Smith started the day off leading the field along with teammates Carson Kvapil, Connor Zilisch, and Justin Allgaier. Allgaier showed why he’s the team elder fast, overtaking his teammates and finding the lead, taking it all the way to a stage one victory.

After the stage caution, the JRM tandem was broken up as Aric Almirola won the battle off pit road and was poised to add to the equation. Richard Childress Racing was also a factor early on in the race, Jesse Love and Austin Hill looked to build on their fiery start to 2025. However, a tire violation for Love would force him to fight his way up.

Almirola battled a battalion of Chevrolets throughout stage two, as the rookie Zilisch in the #88 continued to impress in his first race at the intermediate oval. Almirola inevitably took the green/white checkered and the stage two win, with his eyes on his second series win in a row.

As the final stage went underway, Zilisch would use the high side of the track to slingshot his way around Almirola and capture the lead for the first time in the race. The 18-year-old would gain immense experience leading the field, however his teammate Allgaier would quickly capitalize on Zilisch’s small mistakes, capturing the lead yet again.

As cars would pit under green with 53 laps to go, Zilisch would speed on pit road, ending his chances of shocking the series yet again. Meanwhile, the 2024 series champion Allgaier would keep it cool and collected in the lead as Almirola slowly worked his way toward the front of the field.

Kvapil was forced to pit under green with 8 laps to go in 7th, as he failed to get enough fuel to finish the race. His teammate in the meantime was caught in a firefight with Almirola, fighting off attempts to side draft and slingshotting the lead back as the laps counter down.

Almirola slightly missed a turn and was forced to let off the throttle, allowing Allgaier to create distance and rectify last week’s mistakes to win JR Motorsports 90th Xfinity series win all time. The win wouldn’t just be history for the team, as Allgaier would nab his 9th consecutive season with a win, tying Kyle Busch and Mark Martin for 1st all time.

“Aric and I were going at it and hats off to him, he raced a heck of a race. So proud of everyone on this Jarrett Chevrolet,” said Allgaier.

RCR continued their huge points season, battling back from mistakes and seeing the #2 and #21 finish third and fourth, respectively.

Today’s race in Las Vegas was the Xfinity Dash-4-Cash qualifier, where the top four eligible drivers would be qualified for the Dash-4-Cash next week at Homestead Miami. $100,000 dollars will be on the line between Allgaier, Love, Austin Hill, and Sam Mayer in the Hard Rock Bet 300 at Homestead. The race will wave the green flag at 1:00 PM PST.