2025 Explore the Pocono Mountains 250

The 2025 Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 was the 16th stock car race of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the 10th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, a permanent triangular-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 100 laps to complete.
Connor Zilisch, driving for JR Motorsports, would make a late race pass on Jesse Love for the lead with four laps to go to earn his third career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, his second of the season, and his first win on an oval track. To fill out the podium, Christian Eckes, driving for Kaulig Racing, would finish in 3rd, respectively.
This marked the first win for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as a crew chief, filling in as a substitute for Mardy Lindley, who was serving a one-race suspension for improperly secured lugnuts found in post-race inspection at Nashville Superspeedway. Earnhardt would join a select group of history to win as both a driver and crew chief.

Report

Background

Pocono Raceway is a oval speedway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1970s. Nicknamed "The Tricky Triangle", the speedway has three distinct corners and is known for high speeds along its lengthy straightaways.
From 1982 to 2019, the circuit had two race weekends. In 2020, the circuit was reduced to one race meeting of two races. The first race was moved to World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis starting in 2022.

Entry list

' denotes rookie driver.

' denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

For practice, drivers were separated into two groups, A and B. Both sessions were 25 minutes long, and was held on Saturday, June 21, at 10:00 AM EST. Justin Allgaier, driving for JR Motorsports, would set the fastest time between both groups, with a lap of 55.138, and a speed of 163.227 mph.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday, June 21, at 11:05 AM EST. Standard intermediate track qualifying was in effect, although at Pocono, a hybrid road course qualifying rule was used. The timing line was set in the North Straight, exiting Turn 2, where cars exited pit road, drove two-thirds of a lap, then took the green flag at the timing line exiting Turn 2, and completing their lap there the next time by. Teams then immediately pitted the car, meaning only two laps were run. In addition, up to three cars could be at the track at one time, separated by considerable intervals to ensure drafting was prohibited.
Chase Elliott, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would score the pole for the race, with a lap of 54.209, and a speed of.
No drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Stage 1 Laps: 25

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Make	Pts
1	20	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	10
2	48	Nick Sanchez '	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	9
3	88	Connor Zilisch '	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	8
4	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	7
5	16	Christian Eckes '	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	6
6	8	Sammy Smith	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	5
7	18	William Sawalich '	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	00	Sheldon Creed	Haas Factory Team	Ford	3
9	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	2
10	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	1

Stage 2 Laps: 25

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Make	Pts
1	88	Connor Zilisch '	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	10
2	54	Taylor Gray '	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	48	Nick Sanchez '	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	8
4	2	Jesse Love	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	7
5	16	Christian Eckes '	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	6
6	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	5
7	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	4
8	8	Sammy Smith	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	3
9	1	Carson Kvapil	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	1

Stage 3 ''Laps: 50''

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings
;Manufacturers' Championship standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Chevrolet	625
2	Toyota	528
3	Ford	505

Note: Only the first 12 positions are included for the driver standings.