Trackhouse Racing development driver Connor Zilisch is one of the most talented youngsters in the stock car racing scene. He is currently racing part-time in the Truck and ARCA Mendes Series, while also racing full-time in the LMP2 class in the IMSA Sports Car Racing Series. Last Friday he scored his first in NASCAR, in the ARCA series.
Driving for No. 28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet team, he secured the win at General Tire 150 at Dover Motor Speedway. The win came in just the second ever start of his ARCA career. His win came under controversial situation as he had to wreck William Sawalich, who lead the most lap in the race, for the victory.
Soon after the race fans witnessed some hilarious scenes on the victory lane. Once Zilisch’s win was confirmed, the Dover track officials started quickly removing the Busch Lights beer cans, which were placed inside min-fridges. These were placed there because Busch Lights were the sponsors.
The staff was forced to remove them, because Zilisch is just 17-years old and advertising alcoholic products with underage racers are against the law. It reminds the NASCAR nation of Kyle Busch, whose appearance at the age of 16 in a Truc Series race with Tobacco company as a title sponsor resulted in a lot of controversies and NASCAR implementing age limits for drivers.
Connor Zilisch was intimidated in the final laps at Dover
While talking about his race and performance at Dover, Connor Zilisch pointed out that he was intimidated in the first 70 laps of the race. He admitted that he was confused what to do in the early half of the race as he was stuck in the midfield, before eventually getting to the front with the help from his team.
Yeah, I can’t even lie. Those first 70 laps, I was pretty intimidated. I was saying, ‘The car’s free, the car’s free,’ and then, we’re sitting under red on the backstraightaway and I was like, ‘Damn, I just need to get on the gas.’ … I was down on myself there. I was running fifth, sixth, and couldn’t make any ground. Just so thankful for this entire team. Conor Zilisch said.
The youngster still has a lot to prove and lot to offer for the NASCAR scene. It can be sure that Dover won’t be the last race this season where the crew will be needing to clear the victory lane as the 17-year-old has the talent and cars to be consistently in the conversation of race wins.
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