2025 Wawa 250
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| Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 24 of 33 of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | August 22, 2025 | ||
| Official name | 24th Annual Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola | ||
| Location | Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2.5 miles (4.0 km) | ||
| Distance | 104 laps, 260 mi (418 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 100 laps, 250 mi (400 km) | ||
| Average speed | 115.157 mph (185.327 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | JR Motorsports | ||
| Grid positions set by competition-based formula | |||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | |
| Laps | 19 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 88 | Connor Zilisch[N 1] | JR Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | The CW | ||
| Announcers | Adam Alexander and Jamie McMurray | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | MRN | ||
The 2025 Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola was the 24th stock car race of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the 24th iteration of the event. The race was held on Friday, August 22, 2025, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent quad-oval shaped superspeedway. The race was contested over 104 laps, extended from 100 laps due to an overtime finish.
In an action-packed race with numerous lead changes, Parker Kligerman, driving for JR Motorsports, won the race after replacing Connor Zilisch (injured at Watkins Glen two weeks prior) during a Lap 13 caution. Kligerman would survive late-race chaos and took the victory after a massive wreck brought out the caution on the final lap while leading. Because Zilisch started the race, he was officially credited with the win, marking the first time since the 2007 AT&T 250 that a relief driver won in the Xfinity Series.[8] This was Zilisch's eighth career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, and his seventh of the season. Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier finished 2nd and 3rd in a 1-2-3 finish for JRM respectively.
Background
The race will be held at Daytona International Speedway, a race track located in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, the track is the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, USCC, SCCA, and Motocross. It features multiple layouts including the primary 2.5 miles (4.0 km) high speed tri-oval, a 3.56 miles (5.73 km) sports car course, a 2.95 miles (4.75 km) motorcycle course, and a .25 miles (0.40 km) karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.
The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France, Sr. to host racing held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course. His banked design permitted higher speeds and gave fans a better view of the cars. Lights were installed around the track in 1998 and today, it is the third-largest single lit outdoor sports facility. The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004 and the track repaved twice — in 1978 and in 2010. On January 22, 2013, the track unveiled artist depictions of a renovated speedway. On July 5 of that year, ground was broken for a project that would remove the backstretch seating and completely redevelop the frontstretch seating. The renovation to the speedway is being worked on by Rossetti Architects. The project, named "Daytona Rising", was completed in January 2016, and it cost US $400 million, placing emphasis on improving fan experience with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances (called "injectors") as well as wider and more comfortable seating with more restrooms and concession stands. After the renovations, the track's grandstands include 101,000 permanent seats with the ability to increase permanent seating to 125,000. The project was completed before the start of Speedweeks.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Starting lineup
Qualifying was originally scheduled to be held on Friday, August 22, at 3:00 PM EST, but was cancelled due to lightning strikes in the area. Since Daytona International Speedway is a superspeedway, the qualifying procedure used is a single-car, single-lap system with two rounds. In the first round, drivers will have one lap to set a time to determine positions 11–38. The fastest ten drivers from the first round move on to the second round, and whoever sets the fastest time in Round 2 will win the pole.[9]
After 15 cars took a qualifying lap, lightning struck within the eight-mile radius of the track. Because the session was delayed earlier from lightning, and time constraints with Cup Series qualifying, the rest of the session was cancelled, and the starting lineup was determined by the performance metric system. As a result, Connor Zilisch, driving for JR Motorsports, was awarded the pole.[10]
No drivers would fail to qualify.
