NASCAR Driver Connor Zilisch Wins Xfinity Series Race Then Breaks Collarbone Falling From Car

Connor Zilisch’s Saturday definitely had its highs and lows.

The 19-year-old NASCAR phenom won a chaotic Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen that saw him unintentionally wreck his teammate while fighting for the lead before a 16-car pileup behind him led to a 45-minute red flag session just eight laps from the finish.

He then led the rest of the way to pick up his sixth win of the season and secure first place in the standings with a seven point lead over Justin Allgaier and one race to go in the regular season.

After climbing on top of his JR Motorsports car in victory lane to celebrate, Zilisch fell off, caught his leg in the window opening and slammed into the ground head-first. He was dazed for a moment as medical personnel rushed to his aid and then carried him on a backboard to an ambulance to take him to a nearby hospital. He updated fans on X later in the day on his condition.

“Thank you everybody for reaching out today. I’m out of the hospital and getting better already. Thankfully, CT scans for my head are clear, I just have a broken collarbone. Thankful for all the medics for quick attention and grateful it wasn’t any worse,” he wrote.

Read Also: NASCAR’S MOST POPULAR DRIVERS THINK IT SHOULD KILL THE PLAYOFFS

The road course ace was supposed to drive the No. 87 car for Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series race on Sunday and the team elected to withdraw the entry instead of trying to get a replacement driver.

The Xfinity Series takes next weekend off before its regular season finale at Daytona, but it is not yet known when he will be cleared to race again. If he misses it, NASCAR will likely give him a waiver to still compete in the playoffs, even though the injury didn’t technically happen during the race. He has already missed one race this season due to a back injury sustained during a crash at Talladega Superspeedway.