Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway featured a pair of important firsts for JR Motorsports combo Connor Zilisch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., which they were able to celebrate in victory lane.
The rookie driver scored an important win in the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro after capturing stage 2 and leading 34 laps. This marked his first win on an oval track in a national NASCAR series.
Earnhardt Jr. celebrated a new achievement in his Hall of Fame career. He made his crew chief debut this weekend at Pocono Raceway and scored his first win from atop the pit box while replacing a suspended Mardy Lindley.
MORE: Full Xfinity Pocono results
"When we have an issue like this with somebody being suspended, Bummy (Director of Competition Mike Bumgarner) and Mardy and everybody, they know what to do," Earnhardt Jr. told CW Sports' Dillon Welch. "Just a great job putting us in a position to succeed.
"And we had a lot of things go our way, a lot of good luck, great strategy. Had a little help from (Steve) Letarte up here."
. @ConnorZilisch wins in Pocono! pic.twitter.com/iKEqChCiGw
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) June 21, 2025
A win on an oval has been a long time coming for Zilisch, who comes from a road course background. He scored his first top-10 finish on an oval earlier this season when he crossed the finish line ninth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He then finished sixth at Darlington Raceway during Throwback Weekend.
The big signs of progress happened in May. Zilisch finished second at Charlotte Motor Speedway and second at Nashville Superspeedway. This set him up for Saturday's trip to Pocono Raceway, which he used to score an additional six playoff points.
"I've been dying for this one for a while now," Zilisch said after doing a burnout to celebrate his win. "I know it hasn't felt like that long, but man, I've been so close on the ovals lately. I finished second at Charlotte, second at Nashville.
"Dale Jr., not too bad on the box. Pretty cool to have him up there."
Earnhardt Jr., for comparison, entered the weekend with an opportunity of his own. If he guided the No. 88 team to a win, he would become only the ninth person in NASCAR history to celebrate a win as a driver, crew chief, and owner.
He and the No. 88 checked off this item on the to-do list after avoiding being involved in eight on-track incidents.
According to Seth Eggert, he joined Junior Johnson, Lee Petty, Cotton Owens, Wendell Scott, Sam Ard, Bob Keselowski, James Hylton, and Ronnie Silver.