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Motorsport

Sport

Zilisch "sorry to everyone I hit" on his way to NASCAR Xfinity win at COTA

Austin Hill Chevrolet Connor Zilisch Xfinity NASCAR Carson Kvapil Toyota Ford Christian Eckes Corey Heim

Connor Zilisch started Saturday's race from pole position, but early on, victory seemed like a long shot. A big penalty, lots of contact, and a fierce battle for the win against his teammate made sure the rookie driver had to earn the checkered flag.

"That was tough," said Zilisch, who now has two wins as a NASCAR Xfinity driver -- both at road courses. "That was way harder than I wanted it to be. I did not drive a clean race at all. Sorry to everyone that I hit. I was just kind of mentally fogged halfway through that race. Glad we were able to fight back."

At the start of the race, Zilisch was in full control throughout the opening laps, but while trying to dive into pit road for his first stop, he was met with a major setback. The caution flew for a stalled car and just as he entered the pit lane, it was closed. The result was a penalty that put him to the very back of the field.

It took him the entirety of the second stage to recover, but he was finally within arm's reach of the lead for the final run to the finish. That's when Zilisch, despite his immense talent, nearly gave it away. A huge lunge into Turn 1 on his JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil pushed both wide, opening the door for Austin Hill to pass them both.

Soon after, Zilich slid into the side of Corey Heim in an aggressive dive-bomb, damaging his right front fender as Heim spun.

The damage caused a tire rub, but Zilisch remained undeterred, charging forward. He followed Kvapil as they eventually dispatched Hill, who was hoping to earn Richard Childress Racing's third consecutive win to open the new yer. The young teammates then faced off for a thrilling battle, trading blows and locking up their tires as they pushed their JRM Chevrolets to the absolute limit.

Zilisch prevailed with an inside move into Turn 1 with just eight laps to go, but Kvapil, who was looking for his first ever Xfinity win, wasn't done just yet. He slammed doors with Zilisch into the newly established Turn 6a as William Byron lurked behind them. But the fight was brief as Kvapil began to fade, ultimately blowing a right-front tire as Zilisch was allowed to cruise for the final few laps.

Kvapil finished 23rd as Zilisch claimed victory over Byron and Sam Mayer. Austin Hill and Christian Eckes rounded out the top-five while the remainder of the top-ten was as follows: Jesse Love, Taylor Gray, Ross Chastain, William Sawalich, and Blaine Perkins.

For Zilisch, an Xfinity win is the best possible start to his weekend as he will make his Cup Series debut on Sunday. Driving the No. 87 Chevrolet as a fourth entry for Trackhouse Racing Team, he will start 14th. Zilich is one of five drivers running double duty this weekend.

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	C. ZilischJR Motorsports	88	Chevrolet	65	2:13'31.853		5	40
2	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	17	Chevrolet	65	+1.639 2:13'33.492	1.639	6
3	S. MayerHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	65	+7.810 2:13'39.663	6.171	5	41
4	A. HillRichard Childress Racing	21	Chevrolet	65	+8.441 2:13'40.294	0.631	5	38
5	C. EckesKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	65	+10.407 2:13'42.260	1.966	7	36
6	J. LoveRichard Childress Racing	2	Chevrolet	65	+12.407 2:13'44.260	2.000	5	31
7	T. GrayJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	65	+13.100 2:13'44.953	0.693	5	30
8	R. ChastainJR Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	65	+15.309 2:13'47.162	2.209	6
9	W. SawalichJoe Gibbs Racing	18	Toyota	65	+23.329 2:13'55.182	8.020	5	28
10	B. PerkinsJordan Anderson Racing	31	Chevrolet	65	+24.511 2:13'56.364	1.182	6	27
11	S. SmithJR Motorsports	8	Chevrolet	65	+28.464 2:14'00.317	3.953	5	37
12	S. CreedHaas Factory Team	00	Ford	65	+32.158 2:14'04.011	3.694	6	25
13	R. HerbstJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	65	+35.566 2:14'07.419	3.408	6
14	A. LabbéSS-Green Light Racing	07	Chevrolet	65	+38.602 2:14'10.455	3.036	5	28
15	J. WilliamsKaulig Racing	11	Chevrolet	65	+39.381 2:14'11.234	0.779	5	25
16	R. EllisDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	65	+39.857 2:14'11.710	0.476	5	21
17	D. DyeKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	65	+40.845 2:14'12.698	0.988	5	29
18	D. ThompsonSam Hunt Racing	26	Toyota	65	+43.602 2:14'15.455	2.757	6	19
19	R. SiegRSS Racing	39	Ford	65	+45.863 2:14'17.716	2.261	5	24
20	B. PooleAlpha Prime Racing	44	Chevrolet	65	+46.580 2:14'18.433	0.717	5	22
21	A. AlfredoYoung's Motorsports	42	Chevrolet	65	+49.633 2:14'21.486	3.053	6	18
22	J. BilickiDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	91	Chevrolet	65	+53.012 2:14'24.865	3.379	6	15
23	C. KvapilJR Motorsports	1	Chevrolet	65	+54.006 2:14'25.859	0.994	6	15
24	N. SanchezBig Machine Racing Team	48	Chevrolet	65	+55.034 2:14'26.887	1.028	7	13
25	J. BurtonJordan Anderson Racing	27	Chevrolet	65	+55.077 2:14'26.930	0.043	5	19
26	A. GreenJordan Anderson Racing	32	Chevrolet	65	+57.790 2:14'29.643	2.713	7	11
27	K. SiegRSS Racing	28	Ford	65	+58.339 2:14'30.192	0.549	5	11
28	J. ClementsJeremy Clements Racing	51	Chevrolet	65	+58.716 2:14'30.569	0.377	8	9
29	J. AllgaierJR Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	65	+1'01.872 2:14'33.725	3.156	9	14
30	B. JonesJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	65	+1'14.796 2:14'46.649	12.924	6	7
31	C. HeimSam Hunt Racing	24	Toyota	65	+1'16.982 2:14'48.835	2.186	6
32	M. DiBenedettoViking Motorsports	99	Chevrolet	65	+1'34.531 2:15'06.384	17.549	5	5
33	K. WrightOur Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	64	+1 Lap 2:14'21.892	1 Lap	7	4
34	S. KaramJoey Gase Motorsports	53	Chevrolet	58	+7 Laps 2:02'33.575	6 Laps	8	5
35	H. BurtonAM Racing	25	Ford	55	+10 Laps 1:56'56.986	3 Laps	6	12
36	P. PardusPardus Racing Inc.	50	Chevrolet	26	+39 Laps 1:09'15.916	29 Laps	8	1
37	B. LeguizamonJoey Gase Motorsports	35	Chevrolet	17	+48 Laps 37'55.319	9 Laps	5	1
38	C. HocevarSS-Green Light Racing	14	Chevrolet	3	+62 Laps 5'18.911	14 Laps	2