2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race

The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race was the 33rd and final stock car race of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series. The race was held on Saturday, November 1, 2025, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, a 1 mile (1.6 km) tri-oval track. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete.

In an action-packed race that sparked controversy, Jesse Love, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would survive from early car struggles, and made the championship winning pass on Connor Zilisch with 24 laps to go, leading the remainder of the race to earn his third career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, and his second of the season, clinching his first career Xfinity Series championship. Zilisch fell back to third and finished second in the championship despite a dominating season. Justin Allgaier dominated the majority of the event, leading a race-high 83 laps but fell back on a late restart and was unable to recover, finishing fifth and ranking third in the championship. Carson Kvapil had a struggling day and finished 13th, ranking fourth in the championship. Aric Almirola, who finished in second, would clinch the 2025 owner's championship for the No. 19 car.

This was the fifth and last consecutive championship race held at Phoenix as the event will move to Homestead–Miami Speedway for the first time since 2019. Phoenix will continue to serve as the championship race in future, but on a rotational deal.

This was the final race with Xfinity as the title sponsor. Starting in 2026, O'Reilly Auto Parts will serve as the new series sponsor. Xfinity and The CW also aired the final stage of the race commercial free.

Report

Background

Phoenix Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. It is named after the nearby metropolitan area of Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the IndyCar Series, CART, USAC and the Rolex Sports Car Series. The raceway is currently owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

The raceway was originally constructed with a 2.5 mi (4.0 km) road course that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991, the track was reconfigured with the current 1.51 mi (2.43 km) interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend.

Phoenix Raceway is home to two annual NASCAR race weekends, one of 13 facilities on the NASCAR schedule to host more than one race weekend a year. The track is both the first and last stop in the western United States, as well as the fourth, and hosts the championship race on the schedule. In 2026, Homestead-Miami would host the championship race, while Phoenix would retain its second date in the Round of 8.

Championship drivers

• Connor Zilisch was the first of four drivers to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 at Talladega.
• Justin Allgaier clinched the second spot in the Championship 4 at Talladega.
• Jesse Love clinched the third spot in the Championship 4 at Martinsville.
• Carson Kvapil clinched the final spot in the Championship 4 at Martinsville.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
• (CC) denotes championship contender.
• (OC) denotes owner's championship car.

Practice

The first and only practice session was held on Friday, October 31, at 1:35 PM MST, and would last for 50 minutes. Connor Zilisch, driving for JR Motorsports, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 28.045, and a speed of 128.365 mph (206.583 km/h).

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday, November 1, at 12:30 PM MST. Since Phoenix Raceway is a mile oval, the qualifying procedure used is a single-car, one-lap system with one round. Drivers will be on track by themselves and will have one lap to post a qualifying time, and whoever sets the fastest time will win the pole.

Brandon Jones, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would score the pole for the race, with a lap of 27.490, and a speed of 130.957 mph (210.755 km/h).

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Qualifying results

Race

Note: Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love, and Carson Kvapil were not eligible for stage points because of their participation in the Championship 4.

Race results

Stage results

Stage 1 Laps: 45

Stage 2 Laps: 45

Final Stage results

Stage 3 Laps: 110

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 15 among 6 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 4 for 31 laps
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 1 minute and 49 seconds
• Average speed: 98.509 mph (158.535 km/h)

Playoff format controversy

Immediately following the race, NASCAR became the subject of controversy and blackish regarding the playoff system. Fans and media criticized NASCAR due to the single-race, championship deciding format that overshadows a driver's full season performance, sparking debate for a future change to the system. This came to attention after Connor Zilisch's dominant season with ten wins and 18 consecutive top five finishes, the most in series history, compared to Jesse Love's two wins and nine top five finishes throughout the season. Due to finishing third behind race-winner Love, Zilisch was unable to clinch the championship.

Ultimately, NASCAR would discontinue the playoffs for all three national series in 2026, replacing it with a revamped version of the Chase format that the Cup Series used from 2004 to 2013.

Standings after the race