Zilisch 'drove one of the best races,' but leaves COTA empty-handed

Connor Zilisch was on pace for what could have potentially been a career day in the NASCAR Cup Series before suddenly seeing the field drive away from him at Circuit of The Americas.

It happened on lap 79, with 17 laps to go, when Zilisch ended up turned around in Turn 1. Zilisch and Zane Smith got the worst of a four-wide bumper tag that started with Denny Hamlin getting into the back of William Byron, who then bounced off of Austin Cindric, who bounced off of Smith, who bounced off Zilisch.

Zilisch had lined up fourth for the restart when the incident occurred.

“I feel like I drove one of the best races I’ve ever driven, and we finished 14th,” Zilisch said. “It sucks. Red Bull Chevrolet was really fast all day, and we were putting ourselves in a spot there at the end, on that last caution in stage three, to go have a chance to win the race, and got wrecked again in Turn 1.

“I don’t know if I need to do something different, but it’s one of those days.”

The spin was the second of the day for Zilisch and occurred in the same spot. The rookie had lined up seventh for a restart on lap 25 when he was spun by Daniel Suarez.

Sunday was an up-and-down day for Zilisch and the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team. He qualified 25th but had pace in the first stage to move inside the top 20. The team chose to pit before the end of the stage, thereby inheriting the track position to begin the second stage.

That track position was then lost with the spin off Suarez’s front bumper. Zilisch, however, was not to be denied, and a little over 20 laps later, he was back inside the top 10. Then the pace turned up, and Zilisch began picking his way into the top five while running the fastest laps on the track.

When the final caution flew with 21 laps to go, Zilisch was in seventh position. With his final pit stop having already been made, he moved to fourth for the restart. It lasted half a straightaway.

“It was good,” Zilisch said of coming back through the field. “As a race car driver, I’m not satisfied, but I showed that I can do it.”