XFINITY: Connor Zilisch Captures Pole at COTA in Cup Debut Tune-Up

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

If Friday afternoon was any indication for how the weekend is going to go for 18-year-old Connor Zilisch, who is set to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, we may be headed toward a collision course with history.

The phenom racer, who is looking to become the youngest winner in NASCAR Cup Series history, was flawless in practice and qualifying for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 at COTA. Zilisch paced both sessions in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. After cranking out a lap time of 1 minute, and 37.262 seconds in qualifying, the North Carolina native secured his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series pole position, which comes in just his seventh career start.

"Yeah, I mean, it's a really good start to the weekend," Zilisch said after capturing the pole for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series event.

Zilisch's pole for Saturday's Xfinity Series race, and overall speed on Friday, will do nothing but bolster the young driver's already sky-high confidence heading into his NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday.

The cast of drivers that Zilisch defeated for the Xfinity pole at COTA on Friday made the feat especially impressive.

Ross Chastain, a previous NASCAR Cup Series race winner at Circuit of the Americas (2022), will start alongside Zilisch on the front row. Chastain clocked in nearly two-tenths of a second slower than Zilisch's pole-winning lap time.

William Byron, the defending winner of the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix and two-time NASCAR Cup Series pole winner at COTA, will start Saturday's Xfinity Series event from the third spot in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Byron was nearly a full second off of the pace set by Zilisch.

When Zilisch was slotted as one of the favorites to win Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race, many questioned how a teenager making his debut in the premier form of racing in the United States could be considered a potential favorite for the race win on Sunday. After he crushed two of the best drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in Friday's on-track activity at COTA, Zilisch will likely be seen as even more of a favorite on Sunday.

The Trackhouse Racing development driver is going to try to keep his blinders on as it pertains to the hype around his NASCAR Cup Series debut.

"Just going to have to keep blocking it out, and doing my best to do my thing when it comes to getting in the race car and putting my helmet on, and just allowing myself to execute and do what I know I need to do," Zilisch said. "I'm excited to see what the Cup car is like tomorrow."

Defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier secured the fourth starting spot for Saturday's race, and he was followed by Carson Kvapil in fifth.

Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, and Christian Eckes rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series showdown.

With 41 cars on the entry list for this weekend's NASCAR Xfinity Series event, and only 38 being allowed to start events in the series, three drivers and teams failed to advance into the starting lineup for the Focused Health 250. The three DNQs were surprising, too.

Parker Retzlaff, who is contesting the full NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule as the driver of the No. 4 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet, failed to locked into the race, as did road racing experts Thomas Annunziata, who suffered a mechanical failure during his qualifying run, and Brad Perez, the driver of the No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet.