Chase Briscoe reacts to controversial winning move by Connor Zilisch at Portland: ‘It’s way faster’

Chase Briscoe and the Cup Series are racing in Darlington this weekend. So, it doesn’t apply to him. But his point has some validity to it. I mean, did anyone want to see Zilisch go into he corner and get cleaned out by the mess of cars dive bombing the leaders?

If the field is going to race dirty, I think they have to deal with the consequences. That includes moves like that from Connor Zilisch. We saw moves from William Sawalich, Austin Hill, Nick Sanchez, and others that just didn’t make sense.

Honestly, this was a small taste of what we saw at Martinsville this season. The only thing that saved these Xfinity Series drivers from truly causing a mess and ruining this race is the fact it was an open road course with run-off areas and not a short track with walls on both sides.

Connor Zilisch causes controversy, wins at Portland

With eight wins on the season, Connor Zilisch has the regular-season points lead and one more race to secure the championship. Then it is to the playoffs for the real championship. What this team has done his season has been nothing short of impressive.

Take the controversial finish away, today’s win was perhaps the most impressive in Zilisch’s young career. The lead he had as he finished Stage 2 was immense and showed just how much better Zilisch is at braking and getting around a road course than every driver in the field.

Those late restarts were the opportunities that the other drivers needed to win a race. Turns out, you can’t win a road course race in overtime by sending it into Turn 1 from 5th or 6th place. We see it all the time. So many drivers think they are going to be the one to make the impossible move stick.

Another great race at Portland, but we won’t get this race in 2026. Connor Zilisch will be the last Portland winner in the series for at least two years.