Connor Zilisch’s most anticipated debut in the NASCAR Cup Series at COTA ended with a crash. His race began with a mishap in turn 1 and spiraled downward, ending in an unavoidable collision with his teammate, Daniel Suarez, which relegated him to a last-place finish.
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It all started on the very first lap when he encountered contact and swiftly fell behind. Despite this setback, Zilisch showed speed, navigating his damaged vehicle from outside the top 30 to breach the top 15 by the end of Stage 2. Tragically, that was the end of it.
At the onset of the third stage’s restart, his teammate, Daniel Suarez, collided with the inside barrier at the exit of turn 19, sealing Zilisch’s fate in the race. Zilisch collided head-on with the spinning Suarez and found himself trapped in the tire barrier.
The young driver disembarked from his vehicle under his own steam while safety crews extinguished a minor fire. Reflecting on the accident, Zilisch refrained from faulting his teammate for the incident but expressed regret that his race concluded in such a manner, given that he piloted one of the fastest cars on the circuit.
Offering his perspective on the tumultuous event, Zilisch recounted, “All I saw was a cloud of smoke, and by the time I saw him (Daniel Suarez), it was way too late to do anything. I saw him spinning off to the left, and I thought he was going to keep going in that direction or stay there.”
“I guess he flipped back right, and he started coming towards me. Really unfortunate way to end my Cup Series debut. We were one of the top-five fastest cars in the second stage there.”
Meanwhile, the winner of last year’s Ambetter Health 400 race, Suarez, recounted, “I just hit the curb, hit the ground, and then it spun me out. When you have low air pressure, that’s very easy to do because the car is lower to the ground. I wish I could say it was a big mistake, but it wasn’t. It was just maybe a tire width too far to the left, and I hit the curb and I spun out.”
Suarez managed to hobble back to the pits, and after a thorough evaluation, his team concluded that the car was beyond repair, leading to its retirement after completing merely one more lap than Zilisch. The two Trackhouse drivers checked on each other’s well-being before separately addressing the media outside the infield care center.
Zilisch anticipates more such opportunities
While Zilisch was disheartened by his final standing, he was gratified by the invaluable experience he accumulated navigating through the Cup field and absorbing wisdom from the seasoned regulars of the Cup Series.
The young Trackhouse Racing driver reflected that the most important learning he gained was “How to race against veterans. These guys are all really smart and very calculated.”
Although there has been no formal announcement regarding Zilisch‘s participation in future Cup races, he is eager to compete in more events against drivers as challenging as those in the Cup Series.
He expressed, “Hopefully I’ll get the chance to come back and do this again. I had an absolute blast driving through the field, and I wish it didn’t end early.”
Considering his pace, strategy, and maneuvers at COTA, it seems probable that it won’t be long before Justin Marks offers Zilisch another chance to showcase his talent.
