Zilisch’s Winning Day Is A Little Bit Of Everything

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — It was as hard-earned a victory as the 19-year old Connor Zilisch has claimed in his brief NASCAR career – answering his win from pole position a year ago in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at the historic Watkins Glen International road course with a second consecutive victory Saturday afternoon in a crash-heavy Mission 200 at The Glen.

As Zilisch climbed out of the cockpit and onto the door ledge of his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to celebrate his series-best sixth trophy of the season, he slipped and fell to the ground. Medical teams arrived immediately to tend to him and transported him on a backboard to the trackside medical center.

NASCAR confirmed Zilisch was “awake and alert” and that he was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

The incident followed an action-packed day of competition on the famed 2.45-mile road course that included fierce racing at the front of the field and a 45-minute red flag for a series’ track record 16-car accident with eight laps remaining.

Ultimately, Zilisch – who led 60 of the race’s 82 laps — motored off to a 2.326-second win over Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer – that sixth win, one shy of Christopher Bell’s rookie record six victories set in 2018.

It was an afternoon of high drama throughout the field.

The highly-anticipated competitive duel between the JR Motorsports teammates Zilisch and road course ace Shane Van Gisbergen at the front of the field was evident from the weekend’s practice and qualifying — and ultimately the race. Zilisch claimed the pole position and started alongside the 35-year old former Australian SuperCar Series champion on the front row; something that has become a familiar look for the road racing aces.

For much of the day it looked like the final outcome would indeed come down to Zilisch and Van Gisbergen. They raced out front for the majority of the day before making contact with 16 laps remaining.

Zilisch inherited the lead and immediately relayed to his crew “he [Van Gisbergen] spun off my nose” and told his crew again “if I wrecked him, tell me.” He was told to “shake it off” and go racing.

Van Gisbergen, who will start from outside the front row again in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the track did not put any blame on Zilisch and said he needed to look at a replay.

“Pretty gutted really, gutted for the JR Motorsports guys,’’ Van Gisbergen said. “The car wasn’t great but we still managed to get ourselves in good position.

“I haven’t seen it yet,’’ he said when pressed on what happened. “Will watch it later and work it out.’’

On the ensuing green flag from the incident, Austin Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevy tagged the right rear of Zilisch’s car going into the first turn, giving the veteran Hill the lead as Zilisch gathered his car wide of the racing line. A caution came out immediately for debris elsewhere on track putting Hill and NASCAR Cup Series road racing ace Michael McDowell out front for a restart.

Only eight laps after that, Zilisch raced forward from fifth place and navigated around Hill. Moments later Hill’s car had big contact with McDowell’s triggering the massive 16-car pileup.

McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner, took the most dramatic hit in the big accident, sliding hard into the walls on both sides of the Turns 5 and 6 section of the course. Despite the stirring incident in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start in nine years, McDowell was not injured, however, and gave a complete review of the incident, even offering a smile.

“That was unfortunate and I just hate it for everybody at Kaulig Racing,’’ McDowell said of the crash. “We had a couple shots at it and was hoping to get to victory lane but that was unfortunate. … But that’s racing and thankful to everybody at Kaulig. Was trying to do a good job for them there.”

Hill, who ultimately finished fourth, spoke with The CW television live broadcast during the red flag.

“The 11 [McDowell] had been struggling a little bit in front of me for a few laps,’’ Hill said of the incident. “I thought if I got a big enough run I might could get to his left side and get that position.

“I hate it for everyone involved, that was definitely not what I wanted to happen coming back from what we had going on,’’ continued Hill. “All we can do is get it behind us, put our head down and we’ve still got a shot to win this thing. Got to get my mind right for this re-start.’’

Zilisch’s JR Motorsports teammate Sammy Smith finished third followed by Hill and JRM’s Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier.

Jordan Anderson Racing’s Austin Green, Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and AM Racing’s Harrison Burton rounded out the top-10.

Three races remain now before the Playoffs. Zilisch and his teammate Allgaier – who each won a race stage on Saturday and remain atop the championship standings. Zilisch leads Allgaier by seven points.

With his 10th-place showing, Burton is holding on to the important 12th place Playoff transfer position. He is 30 points ahead of his cousin Jeb Burton and 38 up on Ryan Sieg.