PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — It was just another day at the office for 19-year-old sensation Connor Zilisch, who took the Pacific Office Automation 147 in Portland on Saturday night.
Earlier in the day, he put on an absolute clinic with one race to go before the Xfinity Series playoffs begin.
It was a pretty clean race until late in the final stages. Drama then ensued with two late restarts for the field of 36, off a restart with only seven laps to go.
Austin Hill took over the lead briefly on Zilisch, before another caution halted the race. That was right in the wheelhouse for Zilisch.
It would go to overtime to settle it and on the final restart, the now eight-time winner grabbed that lead right back and then went right into victory lane once again.
“It soaks in every week. That’s one thing I’ve learned, is to enjoy every moment,” Zilisch told Nexstar’s KOIN 6. “There was a point in time where I was so focused on next week, I forgot to enjoy last week and I’ve really tried to focus on that. So it’s been really fun getting to win all these races.”
Zilisch, who has now finished in the top five in seven career road course starts, just took Portland International Raceway by storm on Saturday night.
“I’ve got a lot more experience than the rest of these guys turning right and left, so I think that’s the biggest thing,” he added. “So I’m very fortunate to have grown up doing what I did, and very fortunate that NASCAR lets us race on road courses a lot. I’m excited to keep this up and hopefully get another one at the Roval.”
He’s also now just the third driver in series history with 13 straight top five finishes. The eight wins now for Zilisch pass Christopher Bell by most wins ever by a rookie in this series.
The Xfinity Series continues on to the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois next week.
You can catch that race on The CW Saturday, September 6th at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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