Zilisch’s Cup debut comes to an early end at COTA

Connor Zilisch didn’t finish his NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas when teammate Daniel Suarez spun into his path early in the final stage and eliminated both.

Zilisch began the stage in the 14th position. The incident occurred on lap 50, the first lap of the final stage, in Turn 19. Suarez clipped a curb and spun across the track, ending up in Zilisch’s path as he went through the runoff area. Suarez and Zilisch made contact, which sent Zilisch into the tire barriers.

The 18-year-old was credited with a 37th-place finish. He and Suarez were the first two drivers out of the race in the 37-car field.

“We had a really fast Red Bull Chevrolet,” Zilisch said. “I’ve had so much fun preparing for this event. That second stage, driving from outside the top 30 to 14th, was a lot of fun. I was passing a lot of guys that I used to watch on TV growing up.

“Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to come back and do this again. I had an absolute blast driving through the field, and I wish it didn’t end early.”

Zilisch had nowhere to go when Suarez unexpectedly came across his nose. When Suarez spun, it created a cloud of smoke that left Zilisch going into the corner blind.

“I just hit the curb, hit the ground and then it spun me out,” Suarez said. “When you have low air pressure, that’s very easy to do because the car is lower to the ground. I wish I could say it was a big mistake, but it wasn’t. It was just maybe a tire width too far to the left, and I hit the curb and I spun out.”

A day after winning the Xfinity Series race, Zilisch started his Cup Series debut from the 14th position. On the first lap, in the first corner, Zilisch was in the middle of a mess of drivers fighting two and three wide when he and Michael McDowell collided. Zilisch was moving to the right to avoid a spinning Chase Elliott and McDowell was there.

The contact gave Zilisch a flat tire and he had to limp to pit road. Zilisch finished the first stage in the 31st position. He was 23rd at the end of the second stage, but given the team’s strategy (the field was split on pitting before or after the stages), he was 14th in the running order to begin the final stage before the incident occurred that ended his afternoon.