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Motorsport

Connor Zilisch returns from collarbone surgery to win NASCAR Xfinity Portland: "Hurts so good"

Connor Zilisch NASCAR NASCAR Xfinity Austin Hill William Sawalich Portland Surgery Jesse Love Allgaier Christian Eckes

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.

Hill did his best to challenge Zilisch for the lead at the start of Stage 2, but the battle only lasted a few corners as Zilisch drove off once again.

The battles throughout the field remained intense, and Jesse Love suffered right-rear fender damage after contact with Sawalich. A few more cars went off the track, and there was even a small grass fire, but nothing that was enough to trigger a full-course yellow.

Zilisch again won the stage, nearly nine seconds clear of Hill.

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.

Photos from Portland - Race

Connor Zilisch, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	C. ZilischJR Motorsports	88	Chevrolet	78	2:04'32.873		4	61
2	W. SawalichJoe Gibbs Racing	18	Toyota	78	+1.572 2:04'34.445	1.572	5	48
3	N. SanchezBig Machine Racing Team	48	Chevrolet	78	+2.955 2:04'35.828	1.383	5	34
4	C. EckesKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	78	+3.732 2:04'36.605	0.777	5	35
5	A. HillRichard Childress Racing	21	Chevrolet	78	+4.035 2:04'36.908	0.303	5	50
6	C. KvapilJR Motorsports	1	Chevrolet	78	+4.990 2:04'37.863	0.955	5	41
7	J. BurtonJordan Anderson Racing	27	Chevrolet	78	+5.479 2:04'38.352	0.489	5	30
8	A. GreenJordan Anderson Racing	32	Chevrolet	78	+5.919 2:04'38.792	0.440	5	29
9	B. PerkinsJordan Anderson Racing	31	Chevrolet	78	+6.620 2:04'39.493	0.701	5	28
10	J. LoveRichard Childress Racing	2	Chevrolet	78	+7.411 2:04'40.284	0.791	5	31
11	D. DyeKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	78	+7.923 2:04'40.796	0.512	6	26
12	H. BurtonAM Racing	25	Ford	78	+8.692 2:04'41.565	0.769	5	25
13	B. PooleAlpha Prime Racing	44	Chevrolet	78	+8.707 2:04'41.580	0.015	5	24
14	T. GrayJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	78	+8.922 2:04'41.795	0.215	5	23
15	J. AllgaierJR Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	78	+9.320 2:04'42.193	0.398	6	38
16	S. MayerHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	78	+10.031 2:04'42.904	0.711	6	34
17	J. ClementsJeremy Clements Racing	51	Chevrolet	78	+10.075 2:04'42.948	0.044	7	20
18	B. JonesJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	78	+11.398 2:04'44.271	1.323	6	25
19	J. HandRSS Racing	28	Ford	78	+11.443 2:04'44.316	0.045	5	18
20	A. DaySam Hunt Racing	24	Toyota	78	+12.135 2:04'45.008	0.692	4	17
21	R. EllisDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	78	+13.073 2:04'45.946	0.938	4	16
22	S. SmithJR Motorsports	8	Chevrolet	78	+13.435 2:04'46.308	0.362	5	16
23	J. WilliamsDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	91	Chevrolet	78	+14.993 2:04'47.866	1.558	4	14
24	R. SiegRSS Racing	39	Ford	78	+15.221 2:04'48.094	0.228	4	13
25	G. SmithleySS-Green Light Racing	14	Chevrolet	78	+15.360 2:04'48.233	0.139	5	12
26	K. SiegJoey Gase Motorsports	53	Chevrolet	78	+16.164 2:04'49.037	0.804	5	11
27	S. CreedHaas Factory Team	00	Ford	78	+20.729 2:04'53.602	4.565	5	11
28	T. AnnunziataCope Family Racing	70	Chevrolet	78	+28.149 2:05'01.022	7.420	5	9
29	T. KogaJoey Gase Motorsports	35	Toyota	75	+3 Laps 2:04'54.309	3 Laps	4	8
30	P. RetzlaffAlpha Prime Racing	4	Chevrolet	74	+4 Laps 1:57'26.011	1 Lap	6	7
31	J. PerkinsJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	71	+7 Laps 1:54'28.131	3 Laps	6	12
32	D. ThompsonSam Hunt Racing	26	Toyota	71	+7 Laps 2:04'48.914	10'20.783	5	5
33	A. AlfredoYoung's Motorsports	42	Chevrolet	63	+15 Laps 1:32'26.861	8 Laps	5	4
34	M. DiBenedettoViking Motorsports	99	Chevrolet	56	+22 Laps 2:02'09.659	7 Laps	5	3
35	W. BrownKaulig Racing	11	Chevrolet	49	+29 Laps 1:09'01.250	7 Laps	4	2
36	A. LabbéSS-Green Light Racing	07	Chevrolet	49	+29 Laps 1:13'26.820	4'25.570	5	1
37	V. SalasAlpha Prime Racing	45	Chevrolet	43	+35 Laps 2:05'09.141	6 Laps	5	1