Zilisch's Cup Debut Ends 44 Laps Shy of Finish After Hard Crash

Connor Zilisch's NASCAR Cup Series debut ended in the Turn 19 barrier following a hard crash with his teammate Daniel Suarez. | NASCAR On FOX Screengrab

There will be no fairy tale finish to the NASCAR race weekend for 18-year-old Connor Zilisch at Circuit of the Americas. The young driver, who was making his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, saw his race come to an end 44 laps short of the finish after he was involved in a heavy crash.

On Lap 50, Daniel Suarez, Zilisch's Trackhouse Racing teammate, clipped the curbing in Turn 19, and lost control of his No. 99 Chevrolet. As Suarez spun, his car lit up the tires, which created a smokescreen for Zilisch and others attempting to avoid the accident.

Zilisch had no idea where the No. 99 car was in the cloud of smoke, and so, it was up to him to choose a path through the smoke. Zilisch chose to veer to the right, and unfortunately he chose wrong.

Trouble for Daniel Suárez and Connor Zilisch at COTA. pic.twitter.com/eOueEVBfRq

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Zilisch would plow into the right front of Suarez's car, which caused significant damage to both drivers' vehicles, and sent them both behind the wall.

After slamming into Suarez, Zilisch apologized to his team over the radio, and explained that he couldn't see anything ahead of him but the smoke from Suarez's tires. The team assured the young driver that he did nothing wrong throughout the course of his NASCAR Cup Series debut, and that he actually did a phenomenal job of working his way through the field, and giving them a fighting chance at a decent finish.

Zilisch, who captured the win in Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 at COTA for his second career win in that series, rolled from the 14th position on the starting grid in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series event. While he was hoping to log some laps and get some confidence under his belt, things got wild very quickly.

On the opening lap of the race, another of Zilisch's Trackhouse Racing teammates, Ross Chastain collided with Chase Elliott in Turn 1, which caused a massive stack up in the field. Zilisch would cut down a tire in the mayhem, which would send him to pit road, and in turn the back of the field.

After the Stage 1 caution at the conclusion of Lap 20, Zilisch, who was running in the top-25, was able to get caught up to the field. In Stage 2, he began to slice and dice his way through the field, and by the end of Stage 2, he found himself back where he began the day -- in the 14th position.

Unfortunately, Zilisch wouldn't have much of a chance to showcase his skill in the final Stage of the race, as Suarez lost control of his car a lap into the green flag laps of the final Stage, and Zilisch was unable to avoid his car.

A weekend that started with such promise for the teenage racer, a weekend which even had hopes of the driver walking out of COTA as the record holder for the youngest winner in NASCAR Cup Series history, will officially end with a last-place finish. However, Zilisch showed incredible poise throughout the race, and he kept digging through the field despite the early troubles, which gave him a chance at a top-15 finish until the crash that ended his day.

"Yeah, I had a really fast Red Bull Chevrolet. I've had so much fun preparing for this event, and that second Stage, driving from outside of the top-30 to 14th, I think, was a lot of fun and passing a lot of guys that I used to watch on TV growing up. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the chance to come back and do this again, I had an absolute blast driving through the field, and wish it didn't end early."