Connor Zilisch is less than two weeks removed from breaking his left collarbone after a nasty fall in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International, and on Friday at Daytona International Speedway, the 19-year-old is prepared to get back behind the wheel.
Zilisch will be getting behind the wheel of the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet in Friday afternoon’s single-vehicle qualifying session (weather permitting) and will take the green flag in the Wawa 250 powered by Coca-Cola.
The Mooresville, North Carolina-native tells Dillon Welch of The CW that he will more than likely be exiting his JR Motorsports-prepared machine when the first caution of the evening is displayed, handing over the reins to relief driver Parker Kligerman.
“I’ll qualify the car — if we get the opportunity,” Zilisch told The CW. “I feel like it’s good for me to get a feel for it at least and get in a car once, and then later tonight, most likely, I’ll end up getting out at the first caution. You know, it’s just not worth it for me to risk wrecking and having a big impact.”
With qualifying on hold due to weather, @ConnorZilisch provides an update and says he will likely get out of tonight’s race at @DAYTONA at the first caution. pic.twitter.com/Lbs4rQ95rm
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) August 22, 2025
Zilisch, by taking the green flag in Friday’s 250-mile contest from Daytona, will be scored as competing in the event, earning any NASCAR Xfinity Series championship points that the No. 88 Chevrolet will earn, with Parker Kligerman behind the wheel.
“So, most likely I’ll get out and let Parker hop in and finish the race because I’ll still get the points for it. Yeah, we’ll see, but you never know what can happen,” he added.
All-in-all, Zilisch, who collected his sixth victory of the season two weeks ago at Watkins Glen International, is just happy to be back at the racetrack. While the rookie driver has experienced a myriad of firsts over the course of the season, breaking a bone (much less while celebrating a victory) wasn’t one that he had in mind.
“I’ve never broken a bone before, I’ve never had surgery before, and it’s a lot of firsts for me, but I’ve been doing [physical therapy] every day, and just doing everything I can to get back behind the wheel as quickly as possible, and thankfully, that’s happening today.”
“It’s been a quick recovery, quicker than I expected,” Zilisch claimed. “Two days after the surgery, I was like ‘Man, this is going to be a pain to get back in the car,’ because I was just in a lot of pain, and I didn’t expect it to heal so quickly.”
With an injury to his left shoulder in mind, Zilisch and his entire team at JR Motorsports have worked diligently to make sure that the championship contender would be comfortable, making some tweaks to his seats and belts.
“I’ve changed the padding on my shoulder belt, so I’ve got basically a bridge from [pointing] here to here on my shoulder with no padding, just to kind of keep pressure off of the incision itself,” Zilisch said. “I have a six or seven-inch scar, it’s a long scar, so we’ve done everything we can to limit friction over it and just kind of keep pressure off of it, and you know, I’ve been working PT a bunch, I have a full range of motion in my left arm.”
Zilisch enters this weekend’s race at Daytona International Speedway with a seven-point advantage over JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier in the regular-season point standings — making the fact that he’ll start Friday’s event even more important.
Plus, TECHNICALLY, there is a top-five streak at stake Friday for Connor Zilisch.
Since he will be scored as competing in the event at Daytona, a top-five result for the No. 88 Chevrolet, courtesy of Parker Kligerman, would be the 12th straight for the 19-year-old driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series — the third longest streak all-time.
