After Record NASCAR Xfinity Season, Connor Zilisch Savors Regular Season Title—and Plans Smarter Post-Race Celebrations

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Connor Zilisch (88) celebrates after winning the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Nineteen-year-old Connor Zilisch was at near-perfection at the Gateway on Saturday. He took home his ninth victory of the year and clinched the regular season title in some style.

He started from the pole and scored a perfect ten in every category except missing out on one stage win. Notably, it was the tenth win of his career and came along with an even further set of impressive records.

Ten career wins in 29 starts is the second quickest in series history. Before Zilisch, Darrell Waltrip had reached ten wins in 24 starts. He is also now the third driver to achieve four consecutive wins in the Xfinity Series. Sam Ard had achieved this in 1983, and Noah Gragson did it in 2022. Zilisch has now become the winningest Xfinity rookie in history as well.

The teenager now enters his maiden NASCAR playoffs riding high on historic records. No end seems to be in sight for Zilisch as he quipped to the press after the race, “That one was stressful. Man, that’s awesome. Four in a row, I think that’s seven of the last eight for our WeatherTech Chevrolet team.” He went on to wish his mother a happy birthday. 

Zilisch continued, “Every weekend we show up and we’re a winning racecar, my pit crew executes, my team executes, everybody does their job, and we end up doing burnouts on the frontstretch.

“It’s awesome to be able to do this and win this many races. This is the most wins JRM’s ever won in a year as well. So, it’s really cool to do that for them as well.”

Zilisch continues to face issues with celebrating wins

At Watkins Glen a few weeks back, Zilisch broke his collarbone when celebrating his victory by climbing atop his car. Doing burnouts at Gateway, he nearly crashed into a cameraman on the frontstretch.

The near miss irked the NASCAR community, with fans speaking about it extensively on social media. Following this, he decided to slide down his windshield after getting out of the car. In the process of doing so, he ripped his racing suit.

He said in the post-race interview, “I just kind of thought of it when I was up there… I should get out of the car and sit on the ground, because everything I seem to do goes to hell.”

The young driver is the clear favorite to win the Xfinity Series title as things stand. He is 59 points above the playoff elimination line. He is bound to win more races before the season comes to a close. Hopefully, he will have figured out the key to safer celebrations by then.

Post Edited By: Abhishek Ramesh
Connor Zilisch JR Motorsports NASCAR Xfinity Series World Wide Technology Raceway

About the author

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Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 3000 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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