There aren’t many more words left in the English language to laud the heroics of Connor Zilisch. The 19-year-old Xfinity Series superstar came to Portland International Raceway on Saturday after recovering from a collarbone injury and ended up winning the Pacific Office Automation 147.
Advertisement
It was his eighth victory of the year and a new record for a rookie in NASCAR’s secondary series. However, a move that he pulled en route to this achievement has become a talking point for the social media crowd.
Zilisch had led 67 laps before contact with Austin Hill on a late restart sent him through the penalty zone at the track. The controversy stems from his missing the corner on the subsequent restart and going through the A-frame penalty zone.
It appeared to have given Zilisch an advantage as he avoided the chaos in Turns 1 and 2 to assume the lead and take the win. The move wasn’t illegal since he had only used the same penalty matrix that penalized him to his benefit.
Did @ConnorZilisch take the A-Frame route on purpose to avoid turn one calamity?!?!? pic.twitter.com/k8ZVavc57h
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) August 31, 2025
A fan drew parallels between it and a move by Fernando Alonso in the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. One wrote, “We call this the ‘Fernando at Sochi’. It’s faster and it’s legal by rule ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”
The Formula 1 icon had gained a similar advantage as Zilisch did on Saturday during the grand prix. He intentionally missed the corner of the race’s first lap, drove around the sausage kerbs positioned at the corners, and sailed through the runoff area.
The two-time world champion was forced to give up positions for this, but he still came out in sixth place, a spot ahead of where he had originally been.
Regarding the No. 88 JR Motorsports driver‘s off-track trickery, a notable comment came from Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe. He laughed, “I’d do that every lap if they don’t call it, it’s way faster than the actual corner.”
We call this the “Fernando at Sochi”
It’s faster and it’s legal by rule
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— b (@bshawesome) August 31, 2025
A third said, “Obviously missed the initial turn in, so he’s allowed to just skip everything? This is terrible, Jesus Christ.” Another added, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
At the end of the day, the officials did not see anything wrong with what Zilisch did. It is his third win in a row, including the race at Daytona, where he started and ran the first 12 laps before Parker Kligerman filled in.
Despite missing a race and fighting through a broken collarbone, Zilisch is currently leading his teammate, Justin Allgaier, in the regular season championship.
