AUSTIN (KXAN) — While most people are busy entering adulthood at 18 years old, Connor Zilisch is winning professional stock car races.
Zilisch shrugged off early and late trouble to capture the checkered flag in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 on Saturday at Circuit of the Americas. It’s his second career win on NASCAR’s second circuit.
Zilisch had to take a penalty for entering the pits when they were closed earlier on, forcing him to the back of the field. Later in the race, he rubbed tires with Corey Heim and nearly crashed. He used some aggressive tactics to pass teammate Carson Kvapil with nine laps to go to clinch the victory, but he didn’t apologize for them.
“I made some moves that were probably — not smart — but they worked out in the end,” Zilisch said. “When I was out there with Carson, we were playing a little cat and mouse game. He made a mistake and I was able to get by him.”
Kvapil blew a tire after Zilisch got by him and had to enter the pits on the last lap, finishing 23rd.
The buzz among drivers throughout the week was the shortened course at COTA, going from a 3.4-mile circuit to a tighter, perhaps more technical 2.3-mile track. Fans flocked to Turn No. 6, hoping to see some carnage in the “new” section of track created due to eliminating the back half of it. Zilisch said it delivered.
“It was chaotic,” he said. “It added a really good passing zone there at 6A, and it was a matter of who got the hang of it the quickest. Our WeatherTech Chevrolet was really good today.”
Zilisch, the polesitter, beat William Byron by 1.6 seconds for the win. Sam Mayer, Austin Hill and Chrisitian Eckes rounded out the top five. Byron won last year’s Cup Series race at Austin last year. Zilisch led 27 laps and moved up 13 spots to No. 16 in the Xfinity Series season standings with the victory.
The main event hits the track at 2:30 p.m. CT, Sunday, with the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. Tyler Reddick will start in pole position, and his 23XI teammate Bubba Wallace will start in second. Zilisch will start in 14th.
