NASCAR
Connor Zilisch Takes Second Career Win at COTA, Capping off Massive Recovery
AUSTIN, TEXAS – The teenager who was talk of the town in Texas waltzed into another dominant Saturday. Starting from the pole, 18-year-old road course racing prodigy Connor Zilisch showed he was the man to beat early on. A rare mistake by his team did set him back mid-race, but the 88 scratched and clawed his way back for every position. Zilisch had the lead again inside the final 10 laps, and took home a second Xfinity Series win from COTA.
Opening laps saw an early clinic put on by polesitter and odds-on prerace favorite Connor Zilisch. The No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet had a lead of over four seconds before his first pit stop. Unfortunately, a caution flag flew less than a second before Zilisch hit pit road. This gave the 88 a penalty, and handed Stage 1 to William Byron.
Zilisch’s recovery drive in Stage 2 saw the 88 climb all the way to 15th. The second Stage went to the 25 of Harrison Burton on a long run pit strategy. This call saw Zilisch cycle to third for the start of Stage 3.
Zilisch’s aggression ramped up in the final Stage, shunting Corey Heim from the top-five on the opening lap and never backing down.
Stalking down fellow rookie and teammate Carson Kvapil, Zilisch retook the top spot with nine laps left. Despite a blown tire on Kvapil and equally-heavy damage on the 88, Zilisch was not to be denied a dominant second career win at COTA.
“That was tough, a lot harder than I wanted it to be,” Zilisch said. “I did not drive a clean race at all, 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, 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 too. Looking forward to that as well.”
“You just can’t let the noise get to you, you got to keep doing your thing no matter what. Whether it’s good talk or bad talk, you just got to keep doing it. If you prepare the same way, the results will come. So grateful to have many great people in my life, everyone at Chevy, I wouldn’t be here without them. Josh Wise, Scott Speed, my family, it’s been a long journey, but grateful to get this one today.”
A distant blur behind Zilisch at the checkers was William Byron, one spot shy of back-to-back wins in this race for the Hendrick No. 17. Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, and Christian Eckes were the top-five. Other strong finishers included: Jesse Love, Taylor Gray, Ross Chastain, William Sawalich, and Blaine Perkins. Take a look below at the current Xfinity Series Playoff standings following Zilisch’s win.
Xfinity Series competitors will be back on track Saturday from Phoenix Raceway. The site of the championship race just four months ago, Justin Allgaier will be the man to beat. The GOVX 200 goes green at 5 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Allgaier was second in the high-stakes November finale, he’ll aim to be one spot better this time.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
