Connor Zilisch racing at COTA. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
DEL VALLE, Texas — At just 17 years old, Connor Zilisch stole the show on Friday afternoon by winning the pole by over seven-tenths over the rest of the field.
And by the way, this was Zilisch’s first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start.
Entering the XPEL 225 at the Circuit of the Americas, the young phenom would lead the field to green with much hype and newfound interest behind him.
As soon as the race went green, Zilisch found himself three wide between the Tricon Garage teammates of Taylor Gray and Corey Heim going into Turn 1. This was when disaster struck, as Zilisch locked up the tires and went straight through the turn, missing it completely.
The lockup resulted in Zilisch flat-spotting his tires, causing his left front tire to go down. This forced Zilisch to limp his No. 7 Austin Hatcher Foundation Chevrolet Silverado around the 20-turn track back to pit road where he came down on Lap 2.
Conor Zilisch during the XPEL 225 at COTA. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
On Lap 4, a caution came up for debris that came off of Dale Quarterley’s truck. The caution allowed Zilisch’s team to change the front sway bar, which got damaged while trying to nurse his truck around the track after the Lap 1 tire lockup.
When the race went back green on Lap 6, Zilisch was still on pit road, putting him one lap down. Zilisch was able to get back on the track before the leaders made it back around to stay only one lap down.
Zilisch was able to stay out of trouble for the rest of Stage 1 and received the free pass when the stage ended on Lap 12. Zilisch took this opportunity to come down pit road for four tires and fuel.
The race went back green on Lap 15 with Zilisch restarting in the 30th position. Zilisch made quick work of the field, making it back up to 16th in just two laps. However, more troubles occurred for Zilisch later that lap as he was spun out after contact from Tyler Ankrum who running right behind.
Following the spin, Zilisch went back to work and made it back into the top 20 quickly. Zilisch even made it back to where he was running in the 16th position before the spin on Lap 21, but then was handed a pass-through penalty for short-cutting Turn 4.
The penalty did not hurt Zilisch too badly as just two laps later on Lap 23 a caution came out for Lawless Alan, whose truck had stalled in Turn 6. This allowed for differing strategies to play out with just a short sprint until the end of Stage 2.
Zilisch was able to maneuver his way through the crazy restart back inside the top 10, finishing sixth in Stage 2.
Connor Zilisch (7) racing Ty Majeski (98) for position at COTA. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
The race went back green on Lap 29 with Zilisch in fourth. Zilisch got a good restart, getting by Jack Hawksworth for third in Turn 1 and in Turn 14 passed Ty Majeski to move into second. When passing Majeski, Zilisch made contact with the No. 98 truck, resulting in a tire rub. Zilisch received a good break however as the rub was able to fix itself and not cut a tire down.
That good break did not last long, as on Lap 35, Zilisch was penalized once again for short-cutting the track, this time in Turn 3. This forced Zilisch to have to come back down pit road from the fourth position to do a pass-through penalty.
While making his pass-through penalty, Zilisch received another good break when Lawless Alan was once again stopped on the track. This caution was able to save Zilisch’s track position and restart him back with the leaders.
After the race restarted again, Zilisch was running in 10th with two laps to go when another caution came out when Marco Andretti’s rear-end housing fell off the truck. This resulted in a 4-minute, 30-second red flag and sent the race to NASCAR overtime.
Zilisch restarted in eighth when the race went back green on Lap 45 and was able to take advantage of trucks slowing in Turn 1 when Nick Sanchez got turned to gain a few positions. Zilisch continued to race hard for the remaining two laps, making it back into the top five to finish in fourth place.
Connor Zilisch during the XPEL 225 at COTA. (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
A fourth-place finish in your debut race is a very good one, but this one was bittersweet for Zilisch who had a chaotic race.
“I’m proud of myself, but knowing how much speed we had I’m still frustrated,” Zilisch said after the race. “I wish we could’ve gotten a better finish. But at the end of the day, I finished fourth in my NASCAR debut. That’s nothing to hang your head about.”
Even after the early mistake, Zilisch knew his truck still had the speed to compete later in the race.
“It’s a long race, and as frustrating as it may have been to lose the lead that early, I knew that I wasn’t out of it,” Zilisch shared. “It’s just the fact that I was so fast. If I was a little slower, it would have been harder. I had so much speed, so that allowed me to push and not give up.”
Zilisch even looks at the Turn 1 incident on Lap 1 as a learning moment, but still a mistake as well, “Rookie mistakes that shouldn’t have been made, but I learned a lot and will move on and get better for the next one.”
Zilisch will have some time to learn from those mistakes, as his next NASCAR start will come at Watkins Glen on Saturday, Sept. 14 which will be his Xfinity Series debut driving the No. 88 car for JR Motorsports.
