Dale Earnhardt Jr. has shared an encouraging message to Connor Zilisch after JR Motorsports confirmed that he will sit out of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Zilisch has been suffering with a back injury since a wreck with Jesse Love at Talledega last weekend.
“It sucks to see Connor have to sit out but I’m thankful he is being smart and patient with this injury,” Earnhardt wrote.
“He’ll be back in the seat and back at the front of the field soon enough.”
It sucks to see Connor have to sit out but I’m thankful he is being smart and patient with this injury. He’ll be back in the seat and back at the front of the field soon enough. https://t.co/BFy5lyCeyY
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) April 30, 2025
Kyle Larson is set to replace Zilisch in the NASCAR Xfinity Andy’s Frozen Custard 300, which JR Motorsports confirmed in a statement:
“Kyle Larson will sub for Connor Zilisch behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway as Zilisch continues to recover from a lower back injury sustained last weekend at Talladega.”
While speaking to the media following the race at Talladega, Zilisch had commented that he was “grateful to be up and walking.”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said.
“That’s one of the wrecks where you move your legs and make sure everything feels okay afterwards. So, very grateful to drive safe JR Motorsports race cars.
“Our WeatherTech Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity Mobile. We were in the right spot, just, yeah, I haven’t really watched it close enough to know what happened. But yeah, grateful to be up and walking.
“Yeah, that’s great,” Zilisch added. “Jesse’s probably my best friend in the world, and I’m grateful to have someone like him who can come and stand in front of me, and you know, give me a hug after that.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway results
- Austin Hill – Finished
- Jeb Burton – Finished
- Jesse Love – Finished
- Justin Allgaier – Finished
- Matt DiBenedetto – Finished
- Anthony Alfredo – Finished
- Blaine Perkins – Finished
- Harrison Burton – Finished
- Sheldon Creed – Finished
- Daniel Dye – Finished
- Taylor Gray – Finished
- Patrick Emerling – Finished
- Leland Honeyman – Finished
- Sam Mayer – Finished
- Nick Sanchez – Finished
- Ryan Ellis – Finished
- Carson Kvapil – Finished
- Dean Thompson – Finished
- Brennan Poole – Finished
- Jesse Iwuji – Finished
- Joey Gase – Finished
- Mason Maggio – Finished
- Kyle Sieg – Finished
- Kris Wright – Finished
- Christian Eckes – Finished
- Jeremy Clements – Finished
- Connor Zilisch – Finished
- Brandon Jones – Finished
- Josh Williams – Finished
- Caesar Bacarella – Finished
- Sammy Smith – Finished
- Jeffrey Earnhardt – Out
- Aric Almirola – Out
- Katherine Legge – Out
- Greg Van Alst – Out
- Ryan Sieg – Out
- William Sawalich – Out
- Parker Retzlaff – Out
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