CUP: Connor Zilisch’s hotly anticipated debut cut short by wreck with teammate at COTA
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: FOX Sports, @NASCARonFOX
Connor Zilisch picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) when his #87 Red Bull Chevrolet was collected in a multi-car accident after 49 of 95 laps.
The finish came in Zilisch’s series debut. In the Cup Series last-place rankings, it was the 36th for the #87, the 682nd from a crash, and the 866th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 55th for the #87, the 1,409th from a crash, and the 1,977th for Chevrolet.
One of motorsports’ most anticipated road racing talents has turned his attention to NASCAR, and the results have been spectacular. Already a class winner at both the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring, the 18-year-old Zilisch scored four ARCA wins, a pole and a 4th-place finish in his Truck Series debut at COTA, a pole and a win in his XFINITY debut at Watkins Glen – all in 2024 alone. This secured him his first Cup Series ride for Sunday, when he’d drive in a fourth Trackhouse Racing entry. His #87 Chevrolet would be sponsored by Red Bull, welcoming the brand back to NASCAR for the first time since Team Red Bull ran its last race at Homestead on November 20, 2011. The run was so anticipated that oddsmakers had him as a favorite to score his first Cup win.
On the XFINITY Series side, Zilisch’s weekend at COTA began in thrilling fashion when he bounced back from a closed pit penalty, fender damage, and a spirited battle with Carson Kvapil to score the second win of his career. On the Cup side, where his #87 was the lone “open” entry of the 37 in the garage, he ran 3rd-fastest in the opening session, then 17th in the second. But after winning poles at COTA in both Trucks and XFINITY, he ranked just 14th in time trials with a lap of 98.928 seconds (87.336mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Cody Ware, whose #51 Arby’s Ford was the lone Rick Ware Racing entry in the field after the team elected to not field their second “open” car for the first time in 2025. Ware would be joined in the back by 20th-place qualifier Zane Smith for unapproved adjustments on his #38 TitleMax Ford. Thus, when the green flag dropped, Smith was last across the stripe, 6.784 seconds back of the lead to Ware’s 6.128.
The battle for last started early as 9th-place Ross Chastain got into 3rd-place Chase Elliott, spinning Elliott’s #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet into oncoming traffic. In the stack-up, Zilisch had his first altercation of the race when he collided with Denny Hamlin’s #11 National Debt Relief Toyota and Ty Gibbs’ #54 Monster Energy Toyota. Stuck in the middle, Gibbs’ car was squeezed between Zilisch to his right and Hamlin to his left, at one point ramping Gibbs’ left-front over Hamlin’s right-front. The pinball effect damaged all three cars, cutting down Zilisch’s left-front tire and ripping away the upper fender from Hamlin’s right-front. While Hamlin managed to continue in the Top 20, Elliott briefly held the last spot until Zilisch came down pit road for fresh tires. As Zilisch returned to the track, he reported a bit of a toe-out issue on the left-hand corners, and was now 75.6757 seconds back of the leader. The next time by, Zilisch was told he’d already run the second-fastest lap in the race so far.
The next altercation on Lap 5 saw Ty Dillon’s #10 Sea Best Chevrolet shoulder Austin Cindric’s #2 Discount Tire Ford off the track coming off Turn 20 in a battle for 30th. Cindric responded on the frontstretch by cutting to the left, hooking Dillon who spun into the outside wall, blocking the path for a closing Zane Smith. As Smith and Cindric continued up the track, Dillon limped into Turn 1 with a flat right-front tire and suspension damage. The issue forced him to run wide through the corners before he finally made it to pit road on Lap 6, when he took last from Zilisch. Back on track, Dillon lost a lap and was in danger of losing a second. The team urged him to stay focused and get to the end of Stage 1 on Lap 21. Some distance ahead of Dillon and Zilisch was Ware, who had lost touch with the tail end of the pack. By Lap 16, Zilisch had dropped Ware to 36th and also passed a plummeting Josh Berry, who took 35th in the #21 Freightliner Ford. On Lap 19, Ty Dillon radioed he had a left-front tire going flat, but said he’d hang on to the end of Stage 1. Ware then spun in Turn 1, and Dillon passed him, bolstering the cushion he had over the leaders. Ware also narrowly stayed on the lead lap, clocking in 91.389 seconds back of the lead when the stage ended.
Ty Dillon got his lap back, and the crew discussed adjustments, including a look at the rear toe links after the contact from Cindric. Along the way, Dillon’s crew gave him encouragement, saying, “Put that shit out of your mind and we'll talk about it after the race, what happened before.” Elliott also had an extended stop for a left-rear toe link repair, which dropped him to 35th ahead of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the #47 Rate Chevrolet. Dillon got his lap back on Lap 24, dropping Cindric to last on Lap 24 before Dillon re-took it on Lap 25. By the Lap 26 restart, Dillon was still in last, but now trailed the rest of the field along with 36th-place Elliott and new 35th-place runner Erik Jones, whose #43 Dollar Tree Toyota had splitter and shock issues needing repairs. By Lap 29, Zilisch was up to 25th, then passed Cole Custer and Joey Logano to take 23rd the next time by. He broke into the Top 20 on Lap 32.
Meanwhile, Dillon remained in the last spot, showing 43.772 seconds back of the lead on Lap 34, a full 13 seconds back of Elliott. By the next lap, Elliott climbed to 35th past Jones, who Dillon was now catching. On Lap 38, Dillon made up his entire four-second deficit to Jones, then pulled to Jones’ inside through Turns 2 and 3, dropping Jones to last. On Lap 45, Kyle Larson left the pits with a loose right-front wheel to his #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. The wheel came loose on the back half of the course, and Jones caught and passed him, dropping the #5 to pit road. Larson made it to pit road under green and incurred a two-lap penalty for the loose wheel. He returned to the track under the caution that ended Stage 2, now as the only driver off the lead lap.
After an extended caution for NASCAR to blow debris off the Esses, the race restarted on Lap 50. This time, the entire 37-car field had caught up to the leader as Larson, separated from first to last by six seconds. Working their way through the back half of the course, Zilisch had climbed all the way to 14th spot. But working through Turn 19, Daniel Suarez’ #99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet broke loose and spun. Zilisch pulled to the right into the run-off, only for the nose of Suarez’ car to suddenly appear. Zilisch struck Suarez with the left-front corner of his car, spun, and slammed into the outside wall. After a tense moment where his car caught fire with the driver’s side against the wall, Zilisch climbed out without serious injury. Suarez made it to pit road with heavy right-front damage, completing another lap in the process, but soon joined Zilisch in the garage area. Zilisch took last from Larson on Lap 52, and both he and Suarez were declared out by NASCAR on Lap 56.
Austin Dillon took home 35th after Denny Hamlin careened into him at Turn 6, sending Dillon’s #3 Breztri Chevrolet skating into the gravel trap and drawing the day’s fourth and final caution on Lap 78. Dillon was pulled free under the yellow, shedding gravel as he made it back to pit road, but ran no further. Late-race altercations dropped both Ty Gibbs to 34th and Stage 2 winner Ryan Preece in the #60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford, which came home 33rd. Both still finished on the lead lap.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #87 in a Cup Series race in exactly 11 years – on March 2, 2014, Morgan Shepherd’s #87 Smart Ben / Morris-Hardwick-Schneider Toyota fell out with brake issues after 28 laps of The Profit on CNBC 500 at Phoenix. That day saw Shepherd set a record for the oldest Cup Series last-place finisher at 72 years, 4 months, 18 days. Sunday saw Zilisch become the second-youngest driver to start a Cup, XFINITY, and Truck Series race at 18 years, 7 months, 8 days (Joey Logano has the record at 18 years, 4 months, 11 days).
*Zilisch is the first Cup driver to finish last in his series debut since June 4, 2023, when Carson Hocevar was likewise having a strong run in the #7 Schluter Systems Chevrolet at Gateway before brake failure put him in the wall after 91 laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #87-Connor Zilisch / 49 laps / crash
36) #99-Daniel Suarez / 50 laps / crash
35) #3-Austin Dillon / 80 laps / crash
34) #54-Ty Gibbs / 95 laps / running
33) #60-Ryan Preece / 95 laps / running / led 3 laps / won stage 2
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kaulig Racing, RFK Racing, Trackhouse Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (2)
2nd) Ford (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
