Zilisch unveils new celebration after controversial win at Portland

Connor Zilisch took the win in his first full Xfinity Series race since breaking his collarbone by falling off his car in a post-race celebration, his eighth victory of the year.

The 19-year-old had admitted that he probably wouldn't be climbing onto the roof of his car through the window again while his surgically-augmented collarbone is still healing, and was true to his word when taking victory at Portland.

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After doing the customary burnouts, Zilisch pulled up his car and popped open the roof hatch, poking his head and torso up through that rather than fully clambering up, before leaving his car the traditional way and making a point of tucking his window net back inside his car.

The manner of Zilisch's victory was somewhat controversial, despite him leading for the vast majority of the race, at one point by over 15 seconds, as a late caution restart saw Austin Hill pass him for the lead.

.@ConnorZilisch changes up the celebration this time 🤣 pic.twitter.com/oyKuukEGQG

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) August 31, 2025

Zilisch 'bored' in dominant run

That move didn't end up sticking, with another caution forcing an overtime period. A poor jump from Hill meant that he was passed by Zilisch on the run down to Turn 1, but the youngster outbraked himself and had to take to the runoff area – weaving between advertising hoardings in the manner NASCAR had specified before the race in order not to make cutting the corner faster than taking it naturally.

However, the front of the field all got tangled up between Turns 1 and 2, slowing them down massively and giving Zilisch the unexpected chance to extend his lead marginally despite missing the corner.

A number of fans were furious with NASCAR for what they viewed as an exploitable rule, although it was pointed out by some journalists that it was the chaos in the pack – not Zilisch's 'shortcut' – which was primarily responsible for him maintaining his lead.

Speaking after the race about the monotony of driving away from his rivals for the first 65 laps of the race, he admitted: "Yeah, it's tough you know, when you're leading by that much and just kind of out front by yourself. It's certainly a little bit ... it gets boring, you know.

"It's hard to believe, but you know, it does get boring when you're just making laps and they keep telling you to slow down, slow down, slow down. And as a race car driver you don't wanna slow down."

However, given the finish, he added: "You know, a pretty crazy race. I feel like we had a dominant car all day long and yeah, all of a sudden it, it turned into a bit of a mess with those late race restarts and just glad we were able to come out on top and get ourselves a win and what we deserved. I feel like it would've definitely been unfortunate to not win that one."

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