The 18-year-old rising star was close to celebrating in Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway, but everything changed in an instant while defending the race lead. Connor Zilisch moved down to block a charging Jesse Love and contact was made. Zilisch's No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet spun wildly to the inside, slamming the wall nose-first in a violent impact.
While he was checked and released from the infield care center, it was revealed a few days later that he would skip this weekend's race at Texas due to injuries sustained in the crash. However, he has declined to speak about the nature of the injuries while updating his recovery.
"I'm getting better each day," Zilisch told The CW on Friday. "I'm up around and walk in and injuries to your back are ones you don't want to mess with. And you know, it's unfortunate because the Blue's Hog car looks really good this weekend, and I wanted to drive it, but thankfully, l've got a driver that's pretty fast driving it this weekend -- Kyle [Larson], so, yeah, I'm excited to watch my team and cheer them on this weekend. It's tough missing a race and watching your race car getting driven by another race car driver, but I'm super excited to learn from Kyle and see what he has to say, and it's going to make our team better.
"I'm doing everything I can to heal up as quick as Xfinity mobile -- that's a good one, right? And yeah, I'm excited to get back as soon as I possibly can."
As for if he'd like to see Larson wheel his car to Victory Lane or if it would be bittersweet, Zilisch said it would be 'awesome.'
"I want to see my team do well, and I want to see my team succeed," he continued. "And it wouldn't be a hit on me, because, you know, Kyle Larson winning a race isn't really a shock to anybody. I would be happy and excited for my team, and I'm excited to see what he says and what his feedback is like. I drove the car in sim and I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what it's like, so I'm curious to see what he has to say."
