(Photo credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images)

LEBANON, Tenn. -- Justin Allgaier joked before the start of Saturday's Tennessee Lottery 250 that he needed to win his second NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville Superspeedway so he could earn another guitar trophy and have one for each of his two young daughters.

Hours later, his dominant work in the race was indeed sweet music for his title hopes. For the second time in his career, the veteran Allgaier swept both in-race stages and went on to claim victory at the 1.33-mile concrete oval -- his third win of the 2025 season.

The reigning series champion had to hold off his 18-year-old rookie JR Motorsports teammate Connor Zilisch in the closing laps, however, before ultimately driving his No. 7 Chevrolet to the win by a slight 1.289-seconds.

The two had been separated by less than half a second for much of the closing 20 laps before lapped traffic helped the Allgaier pull away in the longest green flag run -- 48 laps. In all he led a race high 101 of the race's 188-laps.

'These guys right here, they deserve this one more than anything,' Allgaier, 39, said, shaking hands with his JR Motorsports crew as members came up to congratulate him. 'I screwed them over last week (at Charlotte) by making a (wrong) pit call with an equally as good car. But this time it was Chevrolet, which was absolutely unreal. (His wife) Ashley and the kids are here and it's so cool to get a win here at Nashville. The fans here are incredible. This place is special to me.

'I said before the race I really wanted to get a second guitar so both kids would have a guitar. So they can fight over them. I'm really proud of JR Motorsports.'

You'd be hard-pressed to tell it was actually Zilisch's first ever race at the concrete Nashville oval. He earned points in both stages, had good pit stops, and moved up through the field and into the top five by lap 70. He led 18 laps but his run out front was interrupted by a caution with 53 laps remaining. Allgaier took the lead in a three-wide battle up front on the ensuing restart with 48 to go and never looked back.

'I thought I might be able to get back by him, but clean air is everything and the first 20 laps of a run if you had clean air you'd prevail on a long run, just keeping your stuff cooler and not having to run as hard,' Zilisch said. 'Congrats to Justin. He did a really good job executing on that restart. It's the second week in a row I've finished second because of a re-start. It's frustrating.

'I'm really happy with the progress we're making and being frustrated with second (place) is a good thing,' he added with a smile.

Haas Factory Team's Sam Mayer's No. 41 Ford finished third, just in front of his teammate Sheldon Creed in the No. 00 Ford and a third JR Motorsports Chevy, the No. 9 driven by last week's NASCAR Cup Series race winner, Ross Chastain.

Aric Almirola, Austin Hill, Jesse Love and rookies Daniel Dye and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top 10.

It marks the first win for a full-time Xfinity Series driver in the last three races and extends Allgaier's points lead over Richard Childress Racing's Hill to 92 points.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series has a rare off-week coming up before returning to competition Saturday, June 14 (4:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the Chilango 150 at Mexico City's famed Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race -- Tennessee Lottery 250

Nashville Superspeedway

Nashville, Tennessee

Saturday, May 31, 2025

1. (4) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 188.

2. (10) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 188.

3. (3) Sam Mayer, Ford, 188.

4. (5) Sheldon Creed, Ford, 188.

5. (9) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 188.

6. (8) Aric Almirola, Toyota, 188.

7. (2) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 188.

8. (15) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 188.

9. (19) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 188.

10. (6) Carson Kvapil #, Chevrolet, 188.

11. (14) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 188.

12. (21) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 188.

13. (17) Harrison Burton, Ford, 188.

14. (13) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 188.

15. (7) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 188.

16. (16) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 188.

17. (31) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 188.

18. (26) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 188.

19. (18) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 188.

20. (34) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Toyota, 188.

21. (30) Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, 187.

22. (11) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 187.

23. (36) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 187.

24. (37) Logan Bearden, Chevrolet, 187.

25. (38) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 187.

26. (24) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 187.

27. (28) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 187.

28. (33) Nick Leitz, Chevrolet, 187.

29. (32) Mason Maggio, Ford, 187.

30. (23) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 187.

31. (27) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 187.

32. (35) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 187.

33. (22) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 186.

34. (20) Dean Thompson #, Toyota, 184.

35. (1) William Sawalich #, Toyota, Engine, 163.

36. (12) Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, Accident, 98.

37. (25) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Accident, 98.

38. (29) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, Accident, 35.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 111.006 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 15 Mins, 9 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.289 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 6 for 39 laps.

Lead Changes: 8 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: W. Sawalich # 1-37;J. Allgaier 38;D. Dye # 39-41;J. Clements 42;J. Allgaier 43-94;S. Creed 95-119;C. Zilisch # 120-137;B. Jones 138-140;J. Allgaier 141-188.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier 3 times for 101 laps; William Sawalich # 1 time for 37 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 25 laps; Connor Zilisch # 1 time for 18 laps; Daniel Dye # 1 time for 3 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 3 laps; Jeremy Clements 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,51,99,21,10,00,41,1,20,88

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,00,19,88,9,41,21,1,16,10

--Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media