INDIANAPOLIS — As contrary as it might seem, there was ambivalence in Connor Zilisch’s victory in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Yes, Zilisch won his third straight NASCAR Xfinity Series race and added to his inarguable credentials as a budding superstar. What’s more, Zilisch delivered victory No. 100 to JR Motorsports, the organization founded by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister, Kelly Earnhardt Miller.
But Zilisch’s victory came at the expense of teammate Justin Allgaier, who made a heroic move on the outside to retake the lead from Kyle Larson on Lap 74 and had the win in his sights until the following restart on Lap 87.
That’s when Larson’s No. 17 Chevrolet broke loose in Turn 1 and turned Allgaier’s Chevrolet into the outside wall and out of the race.
That left Zilisch and Taylor Gray to battle for the lead after a restart with four laps left. With a push from the Ford of Sam Mayer, Zilisch took control on Lap 99 of 100 and held on to win by 0.339 seconds over Mayer as Gray slipped to third.
“I see some bricks that look kissable, and I’m going to kiss them,” Zilisch said, referencing an Indianapolis tradition started by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett. “This is awesome. One hundred wins for JRM. Congrats to Dale, Kelley, L.W. (Miller), everybody who’s raced for JRM, everybody who works at JRM.”
“I’m the smallest part of this team, and I’m so glad to be a part of it.”
Zilisch’s fifth victory of the season and sixth of his career followed wins at Sonoma Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway in his last two starts. With Allgaier finishing 36th after the wreck, Zilisch, who turned 19 on Tuesday, cut his teammate’s lead in the series standings to 21 points with five races left in the regular season.
“I hate it for Justin, because he’s been the cornerstone of the company for so many years,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said of the reigning series champion. “He’s been dependable, reliable, great with our partners and he wants to do these things for us.”
A violent accident involving the cars of Aric Almirola and Austin Hill set up the final restart with four laps left. On Lap 91, Almirola looked to the inside of Hill’s No. 21 Chevrolet exiting the short chute leading to Turn 4.
Hill’s car got loose but recovered, then turned left into Almirola’s Toyota, sending the Supra hard into the outside wall.
“Of course it was intentional,” Almirola said after a mandatory trip to the infield care center. “It was time to go, and I got him loose and he just turned left and hooked me in the right rear. Honestly, it was one of the biggest hits in my entire NASCAR career.”
NASCAR held Hill’s Camaro on pit road for five laps for reckless driving and will review the incident in the coming week for additional penalties, if warranted.
Larson survived the accident with Allgaier to finish fourth and Ryan Sieg came home fifth. William Sawalich, Sammy Smith, Daniel Dye, Jesse Love and Dean Thompson completed the top 10.
Jeb Burton ran 15th and leads his cousin, Harrison Burton, by 10 points in the race for the final Xfinity Series Playoff spot. Harrison Burton finished 18th.
–By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
