WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) — Feeling pretty good on a Saturday night, Connor Zilisch acted like so many teenagers when he slammed an energy drink on a table and started scrolling through his phone.
Then Zilisch interrupted his session with the media because he had to take a call.
“From Dale,” he said.
Yeah, Dale Earnhardt Jr. the Hall of Fame driver who now fields a ride for Zilisch in NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series.
That Zilisch could have been scrolling the rest of the night through congratulatory texts and TikTok highlights — and perhaps taking more calls from famous names — is what separates him from any other teenager. The 18-year-old next big thing is a NASCAR race winner.
Zilisch raced to victory in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, saving enough fuel in a wreck-marred finish to allow the teen sensation to take the first of what many in the industry expect to be a career full of checkered flags on Saturday at Watkins Glen International.
“I’ve worked so hard for this one,” Zilisch said. “I’ve been working on this one for months. It’s so special.”
Zilisch, who turned 18 in July, spent the majority of the race leading in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports and was nowhere near the chaos in the back of the pack, but he was forced to stretch his fuel.
The race was red-flagged for about 20 minutes — where Zilisch killed time by radioing his team for college football scores — and the race was eventually forced into double overtime, though there was never a serious battle on the 2.45-mile road course for the lead.
“It's just a sense of relief knowing that I can compete against those guys,” Zilisch said.
Zilisch has been pegged by NASCAR drivers as one of the next big future stars.
“It’s cool to have people tell me that,” he said. “I still have a long road ahead of me, a lot of races ahead of me.”
His future truly started at Watkins Glen.
“He’s been really impressive,” Cup driver William Byron said. “He’s doing all the right things and making a lot of speed out there.”
Sheldon Creed was second, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Chandler Smith and Shane van Gisbergen.
Zilisch was go-karting before he started school, and raced in Europe until he was urged by former NASCAR star Kevin Harvick to try stock car racing. Zilisch signed a multiyear development deal earlier this year with Trackhouse Racing.
He’s run a variety of different series this year in the CARS Tour, ARCA, Trans-Am, IMSA and Trucks. Once he turned 18 in July, he was entered into four Xfinity Series races for JR Motorsports.
Age eligible to compete in IMSA sports car racing, he made his debut in January as the endurance driver for Era Motorsports and picked up LMP2 class wins in both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and again at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Zilisch made an instant impact at The Glen when he trounced the field a night earlier and won the ARCA Series race.
Zilisch had just two career starts in the NASCAR national ranks, both earlier this season in the Truck Series. Pressure? He won the pole and finished fourth at Circuit of the Americas in Texas.
He landed with an Xfinity team that all but guarantees future success.
Zilisch joins the team owned by Earnhardt. The team is a perennial Xfinity title contender that has helped launched Cup Series careers for Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Byron and Tyler Reddick, among others. He’ll finish this season for Earnhardt with speedway starts at Kansas, Homestead-Miami and Phoenix.
Zilisch had time to chat with the boss.
“Thank you, I appreciate it, Dale. It's cool, it's really cool,” Zilisch into the phone. “I appreciate everything you've done for me. It's a pleasure to be racing for you guys.”
Zilisch held up his phone so everyone could hear the familiar voice of NASCAR's 15-time most popular driver.
“Tell everyone I said hi,” Earnhardt said to laughter.
Zilisch won the pole and won the first stage before he ran into his only hiccup in the race, a penalty for cutting the course during a caution that dropped him out of the top three.
He regained his lead late and earned the win — yes, a true dream come true.
“There’s a lot to think about when you’re going into your debut like this,” Zilisch said. “I had my own hotel room, so nobody to talk to, just kind of lay there in thought and dream about winning.”
Zilisch became the seventh driver in Xfinity history to win his first race in the second-tier series.
Just hold the bubbly — because he’s only 18, Zilisch was forced to spray an energy drink in victory lane.
“I prepare for every race like it’s the most important race of my life,” he said. “That’s kind of what I did today.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Dan Gelston, The Associated Press
