Connor Zilisch experienced something firsthand on Saturday at Pocono Raceway that was a first in his NASCAR journey: seeing Dale Earnhardt Jr. more excited than ever. Dale Jr. was atop the pit box serving as Zilisch’s crew chief for the day — a one-off role in place of the suspended Mardy Lindley.
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Zilisch rallied back and snuck by close friend Jesse Love to earn his second win of the season — he also won earlier at Austin, Texas. Zilisch said Dale Jr. appeared to become more involved and confident in Victory Lane at Pocono, given he had more say in what happened and how the race went.
“We saw him in Victory Lane and I’ve never really seen him that excited before,” Zilisch said. “He’s a pretty mellow guy and he came up in Victory Lane right as I drove in and was cheering.
“He was excited because this is a bit different of a win for him. Usually as an owner, he feels like he’s just there and didn’t really play a role in the win.” But Dale Jr. definitely played a role in Saturday’s win for his team.
Dale Jr. explains the difference in being a crew chief and a team owner
In a sense, Dale Jr. was a crew chief in name only on Saturday — more of a popular and well-known cheerleader — as the regular team members executed the strategy laid out by suspended crew chief Mardy Lindley during his one-race suspension for missing lug nuts three weeks ago at Nashville.
“The crew chief role is certainly more of an adrenaline rush than being an owner,” Dale Jr. said. “I love owning race cars and I love racking up statistics and championships. But it does not have the competitive sort of skin in the game… When you’re in the car, it’s on you to make sure you’re doing everything right. When you’re the crew chief, you’re under a ton of pressure.
“I understand that I did not come in here and handle all of the layers that Mardy usually handles. They certainly were putting me in a position to do some light lifting but as the race went on, we got more comfortable and more aggressive. It was fun. Felt like I really had some involvement, some input in the energy that the crew had.”
It may have been a light-lifting role, but it gave Dale Jr. a front-row seat to a win he’ll never forget.
