CONCORD, N.C. — William Byron overcame a pit road speeding penalty and passed Justin Allgaier in overtime to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It is his fifth career Xfinity victory and first since Phoenix in November 2017 — a span of 10 starts for the Cup Series regular.
The victory comes a day after Hendrick Motorsports announced it had signed Byron to a contract extension through the 2029 season.
“It just felt awesome to win here,” Byron said of his first national series victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his hometown track.
Connor Zilisch, who will make his second career Cup start in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, finished second. This was his first race since he suffered a back injury last month at Talladega.
#NASCAR … Connor Zilisch will have some extra lumbar support in his seat for his healing back. He gives an update of how he is feeling ahead of today’s Xfinity race and Sunday’s Coke 600. pic.twitter.com/WyP9dmdSyO
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) May 24, 2025
Nick Sanchez placed a career-best third. Allgaier, the reigning series champion, finished fourth for his ninth top-five result of the season. Sammy Smith completed the top five. Dean Thompson placed sixth to match his best series result. Ryan Ellis placed ninth, scoring his first top-10 finish in his 144th career series start.
Chase Briscoe, who will start on the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, finished 24th in Saturday’s race.
Byron won both stages but was called for speeding on pit road while pitting at the end of the second stage. He worked his way through the field and was helped by late cautions. Allgaier did not pit when most of the field did 20 laps from the scheduled distance. He had older tires than most, including Byron, who got by Allgaier after the overtime restart and led the final two laps to win.
“Once I was sped, it was playing catchup from there on out,” Byron said.
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