As he continues to recover from his freak injury suffered in victory lane two weeks ago in Watkins Glen, Connor Zilisch announced before Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway that he will not make any additional NASCAR Cup starts in the remaining 10 races on the schedule (all playoff races).
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“I don’t think so really, with two Trackhouse cars in the playoffs as of right now,” Zilisch said during media availability Saturday at Daytona.
“I really don’t think that there’s a chance that that could happen. I wish but it’s really hard and I don’t want to take away from what the three main cars are doing and running that #87 car definitely adds to the strain of the guys in the shop and everybody traveling.”
That news may be disappointing for NASCAR fans who have tickets for any of the 10 upcoming NASCAR Cup playoff races and who were hoping to see Connor Zilisch make a few appearances. Zilisch is focused solely on winning the Xfinity Series championship.
“I’ve known about this for months,” Zilisch said. “It’s been something that I knew was coming, but it hasn’t changed anything for me on Saturdays and it’s not going to. There’s nothing more that I want right now than to go win the championship in November and it still remains the main focus.”
Zilisch is three points behind Justin Allgaier in the Xfinity point standings with two races remaining in the regular season. Zilisch has won seven races (including Friday night’s race where Parker Kligerman replaced Zilisch after the first 13 laps). Zilisch still earned credit for the win, even though it was Kligerman who took the checkered flag.
It was announced Saturday that Zilisch will be driving full-time in the Cup Series next season for Trackhouse Racing.
“I’ve been a contracted Trackhouse driver for years now,” he said. “I’m happy where I’m at and I want to enjoy my rookie year in the Cup Series with Trackhouse and look forward to continuing that relationship for a long time to come.
Five years ago, no one knew the name @ConnorZilisch, but he’s quickly becoming a household name. #NASCAR
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Zilisch has maintained composure and maturity this season
At just 19 years old, the Charlotte, North Carolina native has remained surprisingly calm and collected even with all the success he’s had.
“I’ve just become so much more mentally strong and have been able to get myself through a lot of good and bad times and that’s what’s allowed me to win so many races this year… There’s no script that could have been written for how this year has gone,” Zilisch said.
“It’s been a wild four months for me, and that’s only a small part of the book of my story. Winning races is fun. There’s no other thing that I’d want to do and just having the opportunity to do that every week has made for a lot of fun.
“Everything makes today special. Every moment, the wins, the losses, the injuries, everything. It’s all led me to this point and for that I’m grateful. Every day I wake up and I’m blessed that I get to do what I love. And I guess that’s the moral of the story. The journey makes the destination special, and that’s really what’s been cool for me.”
