Zilisch back from collarbone surgery to win Xfinity Portland race

19-year-old Connor Zilisch is beginning to look unstoppable in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Three weeks ago, he broke his collarbone when he fell from his car during Victory Lane celebrations at Watkins Glen. He started the race at Daytona one week later, but it was relief driver Parker Kligerman who drove the No. 88 to the win.

And on Saturday at Portland, Zilisch was dominant but still had to fight through a series of chaotic restarts late. In the end, he captured his eighth win of the 2025 season and his sixth victory in the last seven races!

He celebrated through the roof hatch, and carefully climbed from the car in a humorous post-race moment, even making sure the window net was inside the car this time.

“I guess cut the track, I don’t know,” laughed Zilisch when asked about the key to winning. “So proud of this WeatherTech Chevrolet team. It’s got a ‘W’ on the hood so no better thing to do than to win with it. It was really cool. To come back two weeks after collarbone surgery — it hurt, but it hurt so good.”

Connor Zilisch, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

Austin Hill was leading on the final restart, but Zilisch quickly took the lead back. In the race down into Turn 1, Zilisch blew the entry to Turn 1 and opted to take the alternate route designated by NASCAR. Sammy Smith was leading among those who remained on the racing line, only to get spun through the first chicane.

Emerging through the smoke was Zilisch, still in the lead, and William Sawalich directly behind him. Nick Sanchez finished third, Christian Eckes fourth, and Hill fell back to fifth.

Carson Kvapil, Jeb Burton, Austin Green, Blaine Perkins, and Jesse Love filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Stages 1 and 2

William Sawalich, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

Zilisch was in command from the start, dominating the opening stage. A handful of cars went off-track, including Sawalich, who was running fourth before the mistake.

Dean Thompson slowed on track and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop. When he returned to the track, he actually went for a spin in the final corner. It was not his final off-track incident of the day, either.

None of these incidents were enough for a full-course caution, allowing Zilisch to pull out to a 15 second advantage over the field.

Hill passed Allgaier for second, but before Zilisch could collect the green-and-white checkered flag, Matt DiBenedetto stopped on track. He frantically climbed from the car, later revealing that there was a fire around his feet.

Stage 3

Carson Kapvil, JR Motorsports Chevrolet, William Sawalich, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Jesse Love, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

Zilisch got away cleanly at the start of the final stage, but it wasn’t going to be an easy ride to the checkered flag.

Sheldon Creed pitted with a flat tire with just 12 laps to go, but around the same time, Anthony Alfredo stalled on track.

Things got wild on that restart as Sawalich came from several car lengths back, hitting Zilisch and forcing him to take the escape road. Allgaier also got spun from inside the top five. Emerging from the chaos was Hill, who took over the race lead with a brilliant restart.

In the back, there was a lot more contact as cars went spinning wildly. Supercars veteran Jack Perkins drove all the way up to third, but he ended up going off-track in the final corner, and became stuck.

That incident triggered another yellow and pushed the race into overtime. This was the definitive moment where Zilisch reclaimed the lead and drove off with the win, further retaking the lead in the regular season standings.