JR Motorsports star driver Connor Zilisch was recently featured in a post-race interview and expressed his feelings about his last-lap collision with his best friend, ie Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love. The duo tried keeping each other in the mirror and made contact, resulting in a major crash on the final lap.
During the closing laps at the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 26, Zilisch held the lead. But with one lap to go, an unfriendly bump from his best friend, Love, changed the race’s outcome, sending the JR Motorsports driver spinning across the backstretch into the SAFER barriers, ending his day.
Reflecting on the incident, Connor Zilisch expressed his true emotions (via Bob Pockrass on X):
“Yeah, just, you know, he was crying in there. He just wanted to make sure I was okay. He doesn’t want to hurt his best friend, and I wouldn’t want to do that to him. So, yeah, I’m grateful to have someone like Jesse, who, you know, we race hard on the racetrack, but we care about each other off the track.” [00:41 onwards]
“Yeah. I mean, I watched the replay once. It’s hard to tell, but you know I was just trying to keep him in my mirror, right? You can’t let guys have runs like that, and I probably let us get too far, clear out front, but yeah, I mean, I have to really watch it to give you a clear answer, but maybe I should have just given him the run,” he added.
Austin Hill narrowly led the pack when the caution was thrown after Connor Zilisch’s crash. This allowed Hill to secure his 13th NASCAR Xfinity Series win, eighth on drafting tracks, and surprisingly first on Talladega Superspeedway. Zilisch finished the 113-lap race in P27, one spot behind Jeremy Clements, and Jesse Love wrapped up in third place behind Jeb Burton.
“That was way harder than I wanted it to be” when Connor Zilisch opened up about the COTA win
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch, secured his second win in the Xfinity Series at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). He crossed the finish line 1.639 seconds ahead of Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron during the Focused Health 250 on March 1, 2025. However, his win was not easy to come by, and recalling the hurdles faced, Zilisch told CW Network:
“That was way harder than I wanted it to be. I did not drive a clean race at all, and sorry to everyone that I hit. I was kind of mentally fogged halfway through that race and glad we were able to fight back.”
Connor Zilisch was penalized for entering the pits while the caution flag was out. NASCAR ordered him to start the race from P32 at the restart. But the 18-year-old recovered quickly and, on lap 55, took the lead from his teammate, Carson Kvapil.
The North Carolina native celebrated his win and praised his team for his second win. Zilisch shared an Instagram post with the caption:
“Let’s goooooo!!!! So proud of my [JR Motorsports] team. What a crazy day. Thank you to [WeatherTech] for everything! Big day tomorrow starting 14th in the cup race with [Red Bull] and [Trackhouse Racing]. Let’s do it again!”
Connor Zilisch ranks sixth on the Xfinity Series points table with 299 points. He secured one win at COTA, three top-ten finishes, and three pole positions in 11 starts this season.
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Edited by Anisha Chatterjee
