Connor Zilisch continues to look like the favorite to win the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, even when he's not winning. The driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has 10 wins to his name this year, and he hasn't finished a race lower than fifth place since all the way back in April, despite opening the year with only a single top five effort in 12 races.
Zilisch has had the opportunity to compete in select Cup races for Trackhouse Racing, the team he's set to join full-time as Daniel Suarez's replacement next year, and he's also made two appearances in the Truck Series, the series he skipped competing in full-time before landing his current Xfinity ride.
Following a mid-season driver change at Niece Motorsports, Zilisch was called in at Watkins Glen International and finished in eighth place, his best finish since his fourth place finish in his series debut at Circuit of the Americas back in 2024.
That debut came with Spire Motorsports, and he recently rejoined Spire Motorsports for the road course race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and finished fifth.
Connor Zilisch replaced for Talladega race
But he will not be back for this coming weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway, and though the team have not confirmed a driver for the No. 7 Chevrolet for the upcoming races at Martinsville Speedway or Phoenix Raceway either, it's not expected that he will compete in those races as he focuses squarely on becoming an Xfinity Series champion in November.
Set to drive the No. 7 truck this weekend is a driver who has arguably never had this good of an opportunity in the Truck Series, and who hasn't actually competed at NASCAR's third-highest level since 2020, and that is J.J. Yeley, who is the all-time most experienced driver across all three national series (822 starts) without a win.
In 36 career Truck Series starts, Yeley has two top 10 finishes, and both came at Daytona International Speedway, so putting him in the truck for the Talladega race could pay off for both himself and Spire Motorsports. He finished in 10th place at Daytona for Daisy Ramirez Motorsports in 2010 and ninth for AM Racing in 2017.
Spire Motorsports downsized from four trucks to three in late summer. They began the year running both the No. 7 Chevrolet and No. 07 Chevrolet as full-time trucks split between multiple drivers, before Corey LaJoie was confirmed to drive the No. 07 truck for the entire postseason.
However, they cut ties with Andres Perez de Lara, who had been driving the No. 77 truck full-time, and moved LaJoie to that entry for the playoffs. Rajah Caruth is still the full-time driver of the No. 71 truck and remains in championship contention.
Tune in to Fox at 4:00 p.m. ET this Friday, October 17 for the live broadcast of the Love's RV Stop 225 from Talladega Superspeedway. If you have yet to begin a free trial of FuboTV, start one now and don't miss any upcoming NASCAR Truck Series playoff action on Fox or Fox Sports 1!