Legendary success can be dizzying at times. That is probably why Connor Zilisch had a painful accident on the Victory Lane of Watkins Glen on Saturday. The Trackhouse Racing youngster led 60 of the 82 laps in the Mission 200, registering his sixth win of the Xfinity Series season. But while attempting to stand up on his No. 88 JR Motorsports car to strike a victory pose, Zilisch slipped his footing and fell to the ground.

What resulted was a broken collarbone and a wild reshuffling of plans. With Connor Zilisch injured, Trackhouse decided to withdraw his No. 87 entry in Sunday’s Cup Series race at Watkins Glen. While this was an easy decision, tougher decisions are ahead for the team, as its owner revealed recently.

Considering Connor Zilisch’s future

For a 7-time career Xfinity winner like Connor Zilisch, the future already looks glamorous. The 19-year-old phenom won his Xfinity Series debut race in Watkins Glen a year ago, and he defended that title seamlessly on Saturday. His 6 wins are currently double those of his JR Motorsports teammate and 2024 Xfinity Series champion, Justin Allgaier. Hence, a 2024 title run is more than likely for the young prodigy. Winning the regular season title is also a big prospect – but Zilisch’s injuries are in the way. Earlier this year, he suffered a lower back injury in a crash at Talladega in the spring and missed a race. With another superspeedway race coming up in Daytona, his team needs to act quickly to make a decision.

That is what Justin Marks, Trackhouse team owner, indicated in a Watkins Glen press conference recently. Marks said that for the sake of not only the regular season title, but also the 2025 Xfinity title and 2025 Cup Series schedule, Connor Zilisch will make the best decision. “In the little bit that we’ve discussed in some of the quiet moments over the last 24 hours, it’s going to have to be a group decision. It’s going to have to be sponsors, Chevrolet, the team, taking care of his development, taking care of him as a human and as an athlete, and then keeping his motivations high and making sure he knows he’s got a group of people behind him that are supportive of him.”

The Xfinity playoffs start on September 13th at Bristol Motor Speedway. Does it make sense for Connor Zilisch to skip the following races, recover from his injury, and just come back in the playoffs? Justin Marks does not want that, yet he is considering all the factors. Marks said, “He’s a competitor, so he’s already looking at the regular season championship…If somebody can take the car, take the green flag in the next race, and then get out of the car, how do we do?… It’s an important question, because he’s a huge asset and he’s a huge part of the future of the business. We have to approach that as such and make sure that we’re not hurting any long-term opportunities by taking advantage of a short-term opportunity.”

No matter what decision the team makes for Connor Zilisch, he will have strong support by his side.

Learning from the expert

At the moment, Shane van Gisbergen is arguably the greatest road course racer in NASCAR. Soon after Connor Zilisch’s injury-riddled win, SVG followed him to the Watkins Glen victory lane. The Kiwi speedster led a race-best 38 laps and finished a jaw-dropping 11.116 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell. Zilisch and SVG have locked horns already as rivals, as the two beat each other at alternate racetracks – Chicago and Sonoma. However, presently, Zilisch is relying on SVG’s help as the latter has experienced what Zilisch is currently facing. SVG broke his left collarbone and had other shoulder damage in 2021 that required a plate to be inserted. The Supercars series had a weekend off and then raced the next weekend, with van Gisbergen back in the car.

Although he was back to racing after the injury, Shane van Gisbergen had no lack of struggles. He reflected on his 2021 dilemma recently: “My biggest problem was the tightening of the belts. I could really feel the plate through the skin, and it was a horrible feeling. But yeah, I raced the next week and did pretty well.”

This clearly shows that things would not be easy for Connor Zilisch. Nonetheless, the youngster is banking on SVG’s support. “We’re still working with all the doctors to figure out what’s going to be the next steps, but I’ve got a little motivation from Shane, my teammate. He had a plate put in and raced the weekend after, so I don’t know if I’ll be that quick, but hopefully my young bones will heal fast and I’ll be able to get back in it as soon as possible.”

Connor Zilisch’s future will be bright regardless of his current challenges. But for the moment, he has a broken collarbone and a season title to take care of.