Now that he’s been released from the hospital and although he does have a broken collarbone, NASCAR Xfinity Series star Connor Zilisch will have one of the most important meetings of his life in the next day or so.
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Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks, along with JR Motorsports’ owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller, who Zilisch races for in the Xfinity Series (he’s also a Cup development driver for Trackhouse), representatives from Chevrolet and many of Zilisch’s main sponsors will all likely be on hand for a very deep, heart-to-heart talk with Zilisch.
There’s no question Zilisch needs time to recover from his injury, incurred when he accidentally got tangled up in his car’s driver-side net, slipped and knocked himself unconscious. He spent several hours in the hospital, and then went home, where he’ll likely be for the next three weeks.
Given that he’s the points leader in the Xfinity Series, Zilisch will likely be forced to sit out at least two of the last three regular season races at Daytona, Portland and Gateway. That the Xfinity Series is not racing next week is actually a bonus for Zilisch’s recovery, even though it potentially means he’ll be out of commission for nearly a full month.
“It’s a discussion that we all have to have,” Marks said the obvious during media availability on Sunday. “We haven’t really talked about much obviously since yesterday, but in the little bit that we’ve discussed in some of the quiet moments over the last 24 hours, it’s going to have to be a group decision.
“It’s going to have to be sponsors, Chevrolet, the team, taking care of his development, taking care of him as a human and as an athlete, and then keeping his motivations high and making sure he knows he’s got a group of people behind him that are supportive of him.”
Putting Zilisch back before he heals fully would be a mistake
Although Zilisch likely wants to be back in his race car as soon as possible, those around him are going to be more pragmatic. It’s not just what’s right for him, but also what’s right for everyone. If it means Zilisch sits out the next three regular season races so as to rest and prepare for the upcoming Xfinity Series playoffs, so be it.
“I think it’ll be a group decision,” Marks said. “He’s a competitor, so he’s already looking at the regular-season championship and going, ‘If I can maybe, somebody could get in the car, I could take the green flag at the next race and get out of the car, how do we do that?’ It’s just so fresh right now, but I think it’s an important question because he’s a huge asset and he’s a huge part of the future of the business.”
It’s pretty clear, if you read between the lines of what Marks said, that Zilisch is likely going to be sitting for the next three races, no question about it.
“We have to approach that as such and make sure that we’re not hurting any long-term opportunities by taking advantage of a short-term opportunity,” Marks said. “That’s kind of a long-winded way of saying we have to sit down as a group and decide what’s best.”
