After what he calls a tough finish last weekend at Nashville, Connor Zilisch took it personally and went on to flat-out dominate the Dutch Boy 150, winning the pole and leading every single lap en route to the win.
“It feels really good. Last week at Nashville was tough, so to come back here at Flat Rock and lead every lap and kind of just dominate the night. It feels really good. My Pinnacle Racing Group team worked really hard to make this happen. Feels good to have a rebound weekend,” the two-time ARCA Menards Series East winner said.
“This is probably the first time I feel like we’ve had the fastest car. It’s definitely a lot of confidence for this team,” the Mooresville native added.
Hear from the hot shoe of @ConnorZilisch after winning the Dutch Boy 150 tonight.#ARCAEast pic.twitter.com/HTCQnn14Cq
— Ben Branscum (The New/Real One) (@benbranscum) May 19, 2024
The win didn’t come that easy though, as a late race spin set up a four-lap dash for the leaders. Zilisch was able to hold off last week’s winner and second-place finisher William Sawalich.
The two VMS cars came next with Gio Ruggiero rebounding from last week’s crash to finish third, and Toni Breidinger in fourth.
It was a big night for a few others in the field. Zachary Tinkle took home fifth, making it back-to-back top-fives for the first time in his ARCA Menards Series career.
“We raced fifth. Didn’t quite have the race pace of the Venturini and all of those cars…Once again, we were the first car outside the top teams,” the Speedway, IN native said post-race.
Back to back top fives in the @ARCA_Racing East for @ZacharyTinkle pic.twitter.com/AfQtIe1Rzw
— Ben Branscum (The New/Real One) (@benbranscum) May 19, 2024
Joining him in the good run club was Blane Donahue, who came home seventh in his first career start in the ARCA Menards Series East. “We came here wanting to finish top-10. We qualified seventh and finished seventh. I believe it was a respectable day.”
In his first start, Blaine Donahue pulled in p7#ARCAEast pic.twitter.com/4Zr79XXq6c
— Ben Branscum (The New/Real One) (@benbranscum) May 19, 2024
Up next, the ARCA Menards Series East heads to Iowa Speedway for the Atlas 150.
Results from the 2024 Dutch Boy 150 at Flat Rock Speedway
| Finish | Start | # | Driver | Team | Laps | Diff | Status | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 28 | Connor Zilisch | Pinnacle Racing Group Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet | 150 | Running | 49 | |
| 2 | 3 | 18 | William Sawalich | Joe Gibbs Racing Starkey / SoundGear Toyota | 150 | 0.747 | Running | 42 |
| 3 | 2 | 20 | Gio Ruggiero | Venturini Motorsports JBL Toyota | 150 | 1.355 | Running | 41 |
| 4 | 5 | 55 | Toni Breidinger | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | 150 | 4.576 | Running | 40 |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | Zachary Tinkle | Fast Track Racing Racing for Rescues Toyota | 148 | 2 laps | Running | 39 |
| 6 | 6 | 12 | Matt Kemp | Fast Track Racing Work for Green Shield Toyota | 147 | 3 laps | Running | 38 |
| 7 | 7 | 01 | Blaine Donahue | Fast Track Racing PALM Charter Schools Toyota | 146 | 4 laps | Running | 37 |
| 8 | 10 | 10 | Jayson Alexander | Fast Track Racing Selwyn Pub / Constant Contact Toyota | 145 | 5 laps | Running | 36 |
| 9 | 11 | 39 | D.L. Wilson | CW Motorsports Heart O' Texas Speedway Toyota | 144 | 6 laps | Running | 35 |
| 10 | 13 | 06 | Cody Dennison | Peterson Motorsports Toyota | 143 | 7 laps | Running | 34 |
| 11 | 9 | 93 | Colton Collins | CW Motorsports Thin Blue Wine Cellars Chevrolet | 141 | 9 laps | Running | 33 |
| 12 | 12 | 99 | Michael Maples | Fast Track Racing Don Ray Petroleum Chevrolet | 140 | 10 laps | Running | 32 |
| 13 | 8 | 65 | Jeffery MacZink | MacZink Racing Syncon Perf Floor / Parkway Svcs Chevrolet | 140 | 10 laps | Running | 31 |
| 14 | 14 | 31 | Rita Goulet | Rise Motorsports NationalPolice.org Chevrolet | 140 | 10 laps | Running | 30 |
| 15 | 15 | 48 | Brad Smith | Smith Brothers Motorsports Copraya Ford | 16 | 134 laps | Retired | 29 |
| 16 | 16 | 0 | Nate Moeller | Peterson Motorsports Ford | 9 | 141 laps | Retired | 28 |
