By Adam Carabine
Connor Zilisch captured another road course victory at Circuit of the Americas Saturday, and he did it with the odds stacked against him. This is the second Xfinity Series victory for Zilisch in his young career, in just his 7th start.
The win locks him into the playoffs, and sets the stage for an interesting Cup Series race on Sunday, where Zilisch will become the second-youngest driver to make their Cup Series debut (Joey Logano was the youngest).
The 88 car was fast in both practice and qualifying, with Zilisch securing the pole Friday evening – ahead of competitive Cup Series regulars Ross Chastain and William Byron. He beat Chastain by just under 0.2 seconds.
What looked like a great start to the race quickly turned sour for Zilisch, despite the near-four-second lead he had built over second place. Near the end of the first stage, the plan was for him to pit with two laps to go – jump the stage break and set himself up with track position to start Stage Two. At the same time, Argentinian driver Baltazar Leguizamon became stuck on the track bringing out a caution.
The caution was thrown, and pit road technically closed about half a second before Zilisch crossed the commitment line, meaning he would be penalized for entering a closed pit. So not only did Zilisch give up stage points, his penalty put him to the tail of the longest line for the next restart, giving up his strategic track position.
“That penalty is tough. You’re the fastest car, cruising out front. That penalty is not really in your control and it puts you in last,” he said post-race.
Zilisch was reassured over his radio, with his team saying, “You’ve got so much more pace than any of the other cars out here. Take care of it. Do not get greedy.”
While he restarted 32nd, he managed to fight his way back into the Top 10 within 15 laps. Zilisch again chose to pit early at the end of Stage 2 to keep his track position for the final stage. This time, it went smoothly, and he received no penalties.
He restarted third at the start of the final stage, and immediately went to work trying to get to the front again. An aggressive move resulted in door-slamming Craftsman Truck Series regular, Corey Heim, who was running in the 24 car. Heim took the worst of it and spun, but it gave Zilisch a rub on his right front tire.
At first, his team was concerned the tire would puncture and go down before he could get back around to pit road. However, as he continued on, the tire seemed to be holding tough. They decided to keep him out on the track and see what happened.
“I was rubbing the right front for a few laps,” he said after the race, adding, “I had damage and I was probably being harder on it than I needed to.”
Over the radio, he was consistently reminded that he couldn’t afford to take any more bumps, especially on the right front.
“I was trying to be as easy as I could on it, and thankfully I made it to the end,” Zilisch said. His bad luck seemingly ran out, as leader Austin Hill overshot a corner, giving up the lead.
Zilisch was now in P2, with his teammate Carson Kvapil in the lead. The two of them continued to lock up their tires, each attempting to outmaneuver the other. But Zilisch wouldn’t be denied.
Shortly after Zilisch made the pass for the lead, Kvapil also got a penalty for cutting some of the track limits. This gave Zilisch the breathing room he needed to calm down and bring it home.
After the race, Zilisch was hard on himself, saying, “I made way too many mistakes, made it way harder on myself. It was way too chaotic of a race for my liking, but we ended up getting the job done anyway.”
“I’ve already texted three people that I feel I did wrong. I’ve got to drive 80% at these places, I’m so fast.”
Regardless of what the other drivers think, Connor Zilisch is now locked into the Xfinity Series playoffs, and has gained some valuable experience before tackling the Cup Series COTA race on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a lot tougher tomorrow, everyone is so good in the Cup Series,” he said, though he did say he felt Saturday’s reps would help his cause. “As different as the cars are, the technique is pretty much the same.”
Connor Zilisch starts 14th in tomorrow’s Cup Series race, the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix.
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