Strategic call elevates Connor Zilisch to win at Thunder Valley
- Last updated: April 12, 2026 | 09:08
Connor Zilisch rediscovered his identity on Saturday night -- as a winner.
Thanks to a bold call from crew chief Rodney Childers, Zilisch stayed out on older tires with 28 laps left in the Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway and took the checkered flag.
With track position at the front of the field, Zilisch was able to hold off the dominant car of Kyle Larson, who had to settle for second place after leading 230 of 300 laps and sweeping the first two stages in the ninth NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts race of the season.
For Zilisch, his first victory on a short track was a welcome respite from the struggles he has faced as rookie in the NASCAR Cup Series.
"That was awesome," said Zilisch, the fourth different winner for JR Motorsports this season. "It's been a tough past two weeks for me in the Cup Series, and it feels good to come back down here into the O'Reilly Series and prove that I can still do it.
"It's tough. You finish in the back every week and you forget who you are. This feels good. We played strategy. Rodney made a great call to keep us out. The tires weren't wearing much all night, and we were able to get our (No. 1) Roto-Rooter Chevrolet in the track position that I needed to go out and win the race."
Zilisch picked up his first win of the season, his first at Bristol and the 12th of his career. He was one of four JRM drivers in the top five, a group that included Larson, Justin Allgaier (fourth) and Carson Kvapil (fifth). Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brent Crews crashed that party with a third-place finish on the same strategy that propelled Zilisch to the victory.
For the eighth time in his career, Allgaier collected a $100,000 bonus in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Dash 4 Cash program as the highest finisher among four eligible drivers (the top four in last Saturday's race at Rockingham Speedway).
A three-time winner this year, Allgaier retained his series lead by 130 points over second-place Sheldon Creed, who ran sixth at Bristol.
Larson was leading with Allgaier in pursuit early in the final stage, when the engine in Mason Maggio's Chevrolet exploded on the backstretch, filling the Last Great Coliseum with smoke.
Maggio steered the car to pit road where it erupted in flames. Several of Allgaier's crew members helped pull Maggio from the car. The driver was uninjured.
But the fireworks were just starting. After the resumption from a 3-minute 5-second red flag period, Larson dominated -- until Gray Gaulding's spin in Turn 1 caused the seventh caution of the evening on lap 270.
Zilisch, Crews and Corey Day stayed out on older tires, with Larson fourth on new rubber. Larson, Zilisch and Crews battled for position until the eighth caution for Anthony Alfredo's spin on the frontstretch slowed the race for the final time.
An intense battle for the lead followed the subsequent restart with 11 laps left. Larson passed Crews for second and harried Zilisch until his No. 88 Chevy slipped in Turn 4 with just over two laps left, giving Zilisch the margin he needed to win by 0.703 seconds.
The victory was Childers' first in the O'Reilly Series, after a long and successful run as a Cup crew chief, predominantly with Kevin Harvick.
Larson enjoyed the battle, if not the outcome.
"It's a bummer, but I had a lot of fun tonight," said Larson, who will race in Sunday's Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series event. "Our car was really good. Just tough being the leader in that situation of knowing to pit or not ...
"But I'm happy with the run. It just doesn't always work out."
Pole winner William Sawalich was seventh, followed by Day, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray. Day recorded his eighth straight top-10 finish.
Reuters