Connor Zilisch overcomes penalty, contact to win thrilling COTA Xfinity Series race
It only took three weeks and one road course race for Connor Zilisch to put his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevy into Victory Lane. From a pitting under caution penalty to major damage on his right front, Zilisch got the job done in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at COTA.
On top of the penalty and slamming into Corey Heim with 20 laps to go, Connor Zilisch perhaps had the most intense one-on-one battle with his own teammate. Carson Kvapil was a few laps from earning runner-up, but his right front tire couldn’t handle the punishing racing.
Even when he’s in the back of the field, his tire is rubbing his fender, and his fuel is running a bit low – Zilisch gets the job done. You can’t throw him off his game.
Now the real test begins tomorrow. The 18-year-old will start P14 in his Cup Series debut with Trackhouse Racing. No pressure, kid.
You really can’t say enough about Connor Zilisch. Then you look at what Carson Kvapil did and it’s unreal. Dale Jr. has two potential superstars as rookies in the Xfinity Series this year.
“Yeah that was tough,” Zilisch said after the race. “I mean, that was way harder than I wanted it to be, and I did not drive a clean race at all, and sorry to everyone I hit. I was kind of mentally fogged halfway through that race. Glad we were able to fight back. This JR Motorsports team gave me a car as fast as Xfinity Mobile, and so proud of everyone. WeatherTech thank you for coming on board. It’s been such a fun weekend but we got a big race tomorrow. So, looking forward to that as well.”
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Connor Zilisch continues to impress in young NASCAR career
This was only the sixth career start in the Xfinity Series for Connor Zilisch. He has two poles, two wins, and four top-10 finishes in that time. Yeah, he’s pretty good, folks. Winning today also locks Zilisch into the playoffs and makes him a major Rookie of the Year favorite.
When the checkered flag flew, Zilisch won over William Byron by almost two seconds. Third place, Sam Mayer, was 7.8 seconds behind. From there it only continued to drop off.
Austin Hil, Christian Eckes, Jesse Love, Taylor Gray, Ross Chastain, William Sawalich, and Blaine Perkins were the rest of the top-10. Major finish for Perkins and Jordan Anderson Racing. That is only his second top-10 in the Xfinity Series and ties his career-best finish.
If you did not catch the battle between Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil down the wire, then you need to go back and watch it as soon as possible. Just excellent racing from two future full-time Cup Series drivers. Kvapil drove his tire off. Zilisch nearly did. Excellent finish.