Zilisch feeling the sting of another lost opportunity after Watkins Glen mishap

Connor Zilisch felt yet another sting in a tough rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series with a lost opportunity Sunday at Watkins Glen.

Zilisch finished 20th. But he was running second inside the final 10 laps, took a shot at the leader, and then had a flat tire that ultimately ended his run and the chance at a career finish. He had started the day qualifying a career-best fifth.

“I’m not sure, honestly, what actually cut the tire there at the end,” Zilisch said. “We were running on those tires for a long time, so I’m not surprised to see it happen, necessarily, but just frustrating. We had a really good day going – at worst, we were going to get our first top five and walk out of here with something. But congrats to Shane [van Gisbergen], Trackhouse, ECR engines. Everybody who makes this happen.

“It’s really cool what we’ve built on these road courses and how fast our cars are. So, cool to see him win.”

It would have been a tough task for Zilisch to turn his top three into a victory. In the final stint, as he was chasing Ty Gibbs, the No. 88 team and leader Randall Burnett hounded Zilisch about needing to save some fuel. The strategy play had them pit earlier in the stage than van Gisbergen, who had dominated the afternoon and was having to charge from over 29 seconds behind.

Zilisch did catch Gibbs with about 18 laps to go, but he still wasn’t given permission to go hard. It wasn’t until the final 10 laps that Zilisch took a good look at Gibbs, working to his inside, but it didn’t last long. By then, van Gisbergen wasn’t far behind.

van Gisbergen took second from Zilisch with nine laps to go. It happened as Zilisch reported that he had a flat tire and had to limp to pit road.

“We had a good day in our Red Bull Chevrolet, just yeah, didn’t quite end the way we wanted it to,” he said. “I needed last year’s race length of about 92 laps, and I probably would have been a little better. But it is what it is.”

NASCAR added 10 laps to the event this season.

Zilisch is still searching for his first top 10 of the season. In 15 career starts, Zilisch has a career-best finish of 11th at EchoPark Speedway.