Connor Zilisch fends off Kyle Larson to win Bristol NASCAR O'Reilly race

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It was a JR Motorsports 1-2 at Bristol Motor Speedway, and despite dominating the 2025 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS) season, few expected Connor Zilisch to prevail on Saturday. That was because of Kyle Larson, who absolutely dominated the entire race until the very end.

Zilisch was one of three drivers who stayed out during a late-race caution, with crew chief Rodney Childers opting to get him the lead — albeit on older tires. After a tense battle with Brent Crews and Larson, Zilisch escaped the the pressure as both slipped up the track.

"That was awesome," said Zilisch after taking his 12th career NOAPS win. "It's been a tough past few weeks for me in the Cup Series. Feels good to come back down here into the O'Reilly Series and remember that I could still do it. It's tough. You finish in the back every week and you forget who you are. This feels good.

"We played strategy. Rodney made a great call to keep us out. The tires weren't wearing much all night and we were able to get the track position we needed to go out and win the race. Really cool to be able to race against Kyle and learn from him. He's so talented and such a fast race car driver. It's good to be back with JRM and back in Victory Lane."

Larson won both stages, leading 230 of 300 laps before the runner-up finish. He congratulated his JRM teammate after the race, and both drivers will now look ahead to racing in the Cup Series on Sunday.

"It's hard when you ran as long as we did, it's hard to stay out," said Larson about the decision to pit. "I was split. I'm sure he was as well. If I stay out, who knows how many people pit -- everybody might pit, and then it looks potentially worse than second."

Behind Zilisch and Larson, Crews finished third, Justin Allgaier fourth, and Carson Kvapil fifth. Sheldon Creed, William Sawalich, Corey Day, Parker Retzlaff, and Taylor Gray filled out the rest of the top ten.

Allgaier also secured the $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus, beating the other three eligible drivers.

Stages 1 and 2

There was an early caution for a spinning Maggio. Soon after, pole-sitter Sawalich lost the lead to Larson, who dominated the rest of the stage.

The next caution was for a slow Austin Green, who was trying to get to the pits with a tire issue. The yellow came out at a great time for Austin Hill, who secured the free pass.

Most of the field chose to pit, but the trio of Clements, Sieg, and Alfredo all stayed out.

With fresh tires, Larson quickly moved through them, winning Stage 1 with ominous speed over the field.

In Stage 2, there wasn't much change as Larson commanded the race. There was a brief caution for two cars spinning at the back of the field, but that was it, allowing Larson to lap a lot of cars.

He ended up sweeping the stages, winning Stage 2 over Creed and Allgaier.

Stage 3

Logan Bearden had to climb out of the No. 42 car, with relief driver Brad Perez finishing the race for the team.

Larson led the way over Allgaier, and it seemed like no one could keep up with the No. 88 Chevrolet. With just over 100 laps to go, the race was red-flagged for a dramatic engine failure. Mason Maggio's No. 91 car actually erupted in flames in a scary moment. Thankfully, he was okay.

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Larson continued to lead until a late-race caution with about 20 laps to go. Larson pitted from the lead along with most of the field, but Zilisch, Crews, and Day stayed out.

Larson was up to third by the time the next caution flew, due to Alfredo crashing into the inside wall. On the final restart, Crews charged from the second row to take the lead on the outside, and held it for a few laps.

However, Crews' shot of winning for the first time in the O'Reilly Series ended as he got sideways at the exit of Turn 2. Zilisch cleared him, and Larson wasted no time in muscling Crews out of the way for second in his pursuit of the #1 car.

Larson quickly zeroed in on Zilisch, who moved up the track to defend, mirroring Larson's line. As he tried to make up the difference, Larson slid up the track himself and nearly crashed, allowing Zilisch to get away. That was the end of the battle as Zilisch captured the checkered flag.

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