The hottest young prospect in the Xfinity Series, Connor Zilisch, caused a million hearts to skip a beat at Watkins Glen last Saturday. Following his sixth victory of the ongoing season, he stood on his No. 88 Chevy to celebrate in Victory Lane. His footing slipped at the most unfortunate moment, and he fell to the ground, suffering a broken collarbone.
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The scene was gruesome enough for the broadcast to switch to commercials. Zilisch was motionless for a few moments before medical personnel arrived swiftly to help him. He was put on a stretcher and taken to the infield care center. Watching all this left many, including Cup Series drivers Austin Cindric and Josh Berry, scared out of their wits.
Cindric told the press recently, “It’s kind of an upsetting thing to sit there and watch and feel helpless about. I’m sure many felt the same, but I think his dad put out a tweet making fun of him, and I think that definitely calmed a lot of the nerves. It’s something probably very similar that my dad would have done, so I can sympathize with that as well.”
While Cindric was stunned by what happened, he clarified that it isn’t going to stop him from being overly excited after victories. But he has taken the lesson that he might just as well stand on the roof completely instead of having one foot on the window and the other on the roof, as Zilisch did. Berry was similarly shocked.
Will Berry be cautious when celebrating wins?
The Wood Brothers Racing driver believes that the entire field will be cautious about celebrating wins going forward. He also pointed out how the legs of drivers aren’t very balanced after completing a race that is three or four hours long.
“Sometimes I think we take for granted some of that stuff, so I think we’ll all look at it a little differently,” he noted. “Obviously, you don’t want to ruin the celebration element of it, but you’ve got to watch something like that and learn from it.”
He continued to express his happiness that Zilisch is relatively okay and that he didn’t end up getting hurt in a worse way. Earlier this week, the youngster underwent surgery to implant a plate and screws to stabilize the fractured collarbone. This is supposed to help speed up his recovery period. NASCAR has confirmed that it won’t place restrictions on celebrations.
