Connor Zilisch wins Xfinity Series pole award in debut at Watkins Glen

Connor Zilisch did it in his Truck Series debut and now he has done it once again in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, on the pole! The Trackhouse Racing development driver put down a quick lap for JR Motorsports in the No. 88 Chevy.

Last night, Connor Zilisch won the ARCA Menards Series race by 12 seconds. Today, he’s hoping to repeat that performance against a much more talented and stacked field of drivers.

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Zilisch won the pole over Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, and more. Shane van Gisbergen failed to make the final round of qualifying after fighting an ill-handling car.

What a way to make your #XfinitySeries debut!@ConnorZilisch wins the pole at @WGI! pic.twitter.com/WmiRO8bqZ5

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) September 14, 2024

After winning the pole, Connor Zilisch had nothing but praise for his JR Motorsports team. Zilisch also just signed a deal to join Red Bull as a sponsored athlete.

“I can’t say I did. You know, this team, I can’t say enough about everybody,” Zilisch told NBC Sports. “Andrew Overstreet, my crew chief and everybody who works at JR Motorsports. This car is driving itself and made my job easy, so just thankful to be in this position with this team and have the opportunity to drive fast cars.

“Hopefully, later today in the race I won’t miss Turn 1 and we can have a good clean race and hopefully, be there at the end. It’s a long race, so just gotta take my time and learn as we go. There’s a lot of great guys around me with a lot of talent. So, definitely a lot to learn in the race later today, but started off the day on a good note.”

With how NASCAR operates now, Connor Zilisch had no seat time in a real Xfinity car until today. He had simulator time, but nothing compares to the real thing. Will he be able to lay down fast times throughout the race today?

“Yeah, no you’re not allowed to test in NASCAR all you’ve got is the simulator,” Zilisch explained. “So, this is day one and this is my first ten laps in an Xfinity car. Feels good to get up to speed quick, I’ve done a lot to prepare for this race and just feels good that that hard work paid off.”

Zilisch already has the ARCA pole and checkered flag. Now, he has an Xfinity Series pole in his debut. As long as he doesn’t blow Turn 1 like he did in his Truck Series debut at COTA, he should be in store for a great race today.