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Connor Zilisch and his No. 88 Toyota suffered a setback and will start Saturday night's Round of 16 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway at the back of the field. The JR Motorsports the rookie is locked into Championship 4 for points.
Zilisch crashed hard during practice at Martinsville ahead of the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250. The spin happened in turn 1, and the car suffered severe damage to the left front after hitting the outside wall. Fox Sports Bob Pockrass shared that the team would miss out on qualifying.
“The Zilisch car has gone behind the wall for repairs, so he cannot post a qualifying lap. He will start from the back,” Pockrass wrote to X.
NASCAR Journalist Steven Taranto also shared footage of the 19-year-old spinning on the first lap at the short track and the No. 88 team inspecting the damage to the front left of the car after the crash.
Zilisch has 10 wins and 19 top-10 finishes so far in his first full-time season in Xfinity. He leads the points standings with JRM teammate and defending Xfinity champion Justin Allgaier in second ahead of Saturday's round of 16 final race.
Both JRM drivers have advanced to the final round of the championship. Meanwhile, Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil occupy the last two spots in the championship heading into the race.
Connor Zilisch's misfortune repeats itself at Martinsville after Talladega
Connor Zilisch had also suffered a setback during the spring race at Martinsville. He started the US Marine Corps 250 on the pole with a qualifying speed of 95.213 mph and won the first two stages, but crashed and finished 28th after 256 laps. Zilisch spun and later made contact with the outside wall during aggressive restarts. The incident damaged his car and ended his run for the win. Austin Hill won after a chaotic final lap.
Four weeks after Martinsville, Connor Zilisch had another setback at Talladega Superspeedway. That race in April marked his last result outside the top-25. Zilisch has had top-5 finishes since then until last weekend, when his streak of top-5 finishes ended again at the 2.66-mile oval with a flat tire on the final stage. He also suffered a broken collarbone after one fall off track while celebrating a win at Watkins Glen in August.
Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed were also involved in multi-car crashes at Talladega. They will enter Martinsville behind Sammy Smith, who is 11 points shy of the playoff cutoff line.
Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar
