On one hand, Connor Zilisch (19) is very young and young bones heal quickly but a broken collarbone suffered just three weeks before the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs isn’t exactly ideal.
Further, while Zilisch has already clinched a playoff berth and then some with a six-win and counting rookie season for JR Motorsports on loan from Trackhouse Racing, Zilisch is also the regular season points leader and his final regular season points position has playoff implications too.
The regular season champion earns 15 additional playoff points towards seeding and second gets 10 and the number goes down incrementally through the 10th place regular season driver.
More on that in a moment, but Zilisch was just happy to have avoided worse injuries falling off his car in Victory Lane on Saturday at Watkins Glen International.
“First of all, I’m doing okay,” Zilisch said during the USA broadcast of the Cup race. “Very grateful to be able to walk away from that, and I guess I didn’t walk away, but I’m very grateful to be walking today and to just be all right. Thank you to all the medics who took care of me, and everybody who reached out and wished me well. I do appreciate it a lot.”
So what happened exactly?
“Yeah, I was climbing out of the car and obviously the window net was on the door, and as soon as they started spraying water, my foot slipped,” Zilisch said. “And the last thing I remember was being halfway down and falling, so I’m glad it wasn’t any worse, and that the collarbone is the extent of the injuries but hate I couldn’t make it to the race today.”
Chris Graythen | Getty Images
Zilisch was scheduled to compete in the Cup Series race for Trackhouse and was set to start 25th. Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks withdrew the car and that decision primarily came from sponsor Red Bull.
“That program and what we’ve built around that 87 car this year is really about Connor, and it’s about getting Connor seat time in the Cup Series and starting to prepare for his future,” Marks said during the post-race press conference celebrating Shane Van Gisbergen’s win on Sunday.
Zilisch is expected to join ‘SVG’ and Ross Chastain at the Trackhouse Cup program next season.
“I think we talked about some different scenarios, but I think at the end of the day, Red Bull speaks loudly,” Marks added. “They’re the one that’s paying the bill. We all kind of powwowed late last night to talk about it, and ultimately just because of the relationships, the partners, because that program is about Connor, I think the best thing was to not dilute that program and that sponsorship and Connor as an athlete by putting somebody else in the car. And I had left my helmet at home.”
Zilisch, Marks and JR Motorsports will also have to powwow about what to do next week and beyond.
“We’re still working out with all the doctors to figure out what’s going to be the next steps,” Zilisch said on the TV broadcast.
Marks said they have yet to have those conversations. One option, as floated by Zilisch himself, is starting the races at Richmond and Daytona just so he can be credited with wherever his replacement driver finishes for him.
Otherwise, if someone else starts the race, they get the points.
“We haven’t really talked about much obviously since yesterday, but in the little bit that we’ve discussed in some of the quiet moments over the last 24 hours, it’s going to have to be a group decision,” Marks said. “It’s going to have to be sponsors, Chevrolet, the team, taking care of his development, taking care of him as a human and as an athlete, and then keeping his motivations high and making sure he knows he’s got a group of people behind him that are supportive of him.
“I think it’ll be a group decision. He’s a competitor, so he’s already looking at the regular-season championship and going, if I can maybe — somebody could get in the car, I could take the green flag at the next race and get out of the car, how do we do that. It’s just so fresh right now, but I think it’s an important question because he’s a huge asset and he’s a huge part of the future of the business.
“We have to approach that as such and make sure that we’re not hurting any long-term opportunities by taking advantage of a short-term opportunity. That’s kind of a long-winded way of saying we have to sit down as a group and decide what’s best.”
For what it’s worth, Van Gisbergen says he can relate to what his young teammate is about to experience.
“Yeah, so I broke my collarbone in 2021, left side, which is — mine was a bit out by the AC,” Van Gisbergen said. “I did a bit more damage to my shoulder and also I had a fake ligament put in, but I had a weekend off and then I raced the next week, so pretty much what he’s going to go through.
“But once the plate is in there, it’s stronger than the bone was. Yeah, I’d get a plate put in and then take it out at the end of the year. But it’s obviously going to be in pain. My biggest problem was the tightening of the belts. I could really feel the plate through the skin and it was a horrible feeling. But yeah, I raced the next week and did pretty well.
“Yeah, for sure with some good doctors and some good drugs, he’ll get through the race fine.”
Ultimately, years down the road, the most damage might have been done by his dad, humorously.
Silver lining. Pooping himself is no longer his most embarrassing moment.
— Jim Zilisch (@jzilisch1) August 10, 2025
