“The Playoffs Change Things”: Connor Zilisch Wary of Complacency Despite Historic Rookie Season

Jerry Bonkowski | 12/09/2025
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Connor Zilisch (88) celebrates after winning the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog at World Wide Technology Raceway.

It’s been nothing short of an incredible NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie season for Connor Zilisch. To say the Mooresville, North Carolina native is dominating the series is an understatement.

In the first 25 races of the 33-race season, the 19-year-old Zilisch has won nine races, as well as recorded 15 top five and 17 top 10 finishes, plus seven poles.

But with the seven-race Xfinity Series playoffs set to begin Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet readily knows that as quickly as success has come to him, adversity could quickly turn things around on a dime.

“The playoffs change things,” Zilisch told New York City TV station PIX 11 News earlier this week. “We as a sport, you start the playoffs and you can win 10 races in the regular season. And then, if you have two bad races in the playoffs, you’re eliminated from the championship.

“It certainly is a unique format for NASCAR and it definitely makes it exciting for the fans. So as a driver, you just have to go into the race weekend and trying to execute and not have a really bad day because that’s what can end your year in a hurry.”

Speaking of having a bad day in a hurry, that happened to Zilisch just over a month ago at Watkins Glen Raceway. On the plus side, he won the race there. But as he was trying to jump off the door jamb of his race car while celebrating in victory lane, his foot got caught in the driver’s netting.

He fell to the pavement and suffered a broken collarbone, which is still healing from. But even that hasn’t stopped him. He comes into Friday’s playoff opener having locked up the Xfinity Series regular season championship having won seven of his last eight starts.

“I’ve won (three) races since I broke my collarbone, so I guess it hasn’t slowed me down that much yet,” Zilisch said.

Post Edited By: Abhishek Ramesh
Connor Zilisch JR Motorsports NASCAR Xfinity Series

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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