Chase Elliott has replayed Connor Zilisch’s fall in victory lane last Saturday at Watkins Glen several times. It’s not that Elliott was enjoying or making light of Zilisch’s mistake, but rather that he still to this day can’t understand how it all happened.
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From a technical standpoint, Elliott knows that Zilisch made a misstep on the edge of his driver’s side window and got his foot tangled up with the window netting. Zilisch tried to stop his fall but couldn’t and was temporarily knocked out, followed by being diagnosed with a fractured collarbone.
But while he can empathize with the pain and injury Zilisch suffered, Elliott said what happened to Zilisch will not prompt him to change his own celebratory routines following any of his own upcoming Cup wins.
“No. I mean, it doesn’t for me,” Elliott said, per the Five To Go podcast. “It’s not like he was doing anything crazy. It was just accidental. It was scary. I was watching over there a lot. It was a nasty spill, for sure.
“It’s one of those things where you can trip over your shoelace and you bust your knee up and walk into your house from a driveway,” Elliott said. “Stuff happens. It’s life. The guy was enjoying a great day. And then an accident happened.”
Elliott has stepped on his own car’s door window frame numerous times during his 20 career Cup wins. Fortunately for him, he’s never gotten his foot caught in the window net or had an accident like Zilisch suffered.
That’s why the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott is glad NASCAR chose not to change post-race celebratory rules. There had been discussion that the sanctioning body was going to disallow drivers from stepping on the door window frame areas, but NASCAR eventually let the status quo remain and did not change any rules.
“It was an accident and I don’t fault him for enjoying his moment,” Elliott said of Zilisch. “He rightfully earned that and whatever he wants to do, I think he should do it.”
