Connor Zilisch made history on Saturday after recording a second-place finish at Kansas Speedway and advancing to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Zilisch racked up his 16th consecutive top-five finish by placing second in the Kansas Lottery 300, topping the mark of 15 set in 1983 by series legend Sam Ard. The driver of the Carolina Carports Chevrolet was hoping to finish one spot better, but it wasn’t meant to be. He started seventh and finished fourth in Stage One despite wrestling with a tight condition. Zilisch pitted for tires and adjustments during the stage caution on lap 49 and restarted third for Stage Two. Zilisch again struggled to find the right balance but was credited with fourth place when the segment concluded on lap 90. Crew chief Mardy Lindley made the call for Zilisch to pit for tires and adjustments during the stage caution and excellent work by the No. 88 Carolina Carports pit crew put Zilisch second in line for the restart on lap 98. One lap later, Zilisch took the lead, and he stayed there for the next 39 laps. On lap 145, Zilisch made his final stop of the day for fuel and tires and returned to the track in second behind leader Brandon Jones after the fourth and last caution set up a 38-lap dash to the finish. Try as he might, Zilisch could not find a way past Jones, forcing him to settle for second place at the checkered flag.
“Hats off to the entire Carolina Carports Chevrolet team. My pit crew did an awesome job. We did a solid job executing all day long and were able to come away with a second-place finish. We’ll look back at it and see if we could have done anything better, but it’s cool to not only have the record for most-top fives but to now lock our way into the next round of the playoffs. It’s so nice to not have to worry about points next week. I’m excited to go to the Roval next week. We’ve been really good on road course so far this year, but anything can happen.”
— JR Motorsports —