Connor Zilisch capitalized on mistakes from Brent Crews and Kyle Larson in the closing laps of Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, pulling away to win the Suburban Propane 300.
The victory is Zilisch’s 12th in the O’Reilly Series competition and the first in the NOAPS competition for his crew chief, Cup Series champion Rodney Childers.
“That was awesome,” Zilisch told CW Sports. “It’s been a tough last few weeks for me in the Cup Series. Feels good to come back down here into the O’Reilly Series and remember I can still do it. This feels good. We played strategy. [Crew chief Rodney Childers] made a great call to keep us out.”
Larson swept the stages and dominated the race, but came down pit road after a caution with 30 laps to go. Meanwhile, Zilisch, Crews and Corey Day stayed out, putting Larson back in fourth on the ensuing restart.
While Day faded immediately, Crews and Zilisch stayed up front. When the yellow flag flew again, Zilisch and Crews were still ahead of Larson.
Crews and Zilisch had a spirited battle for the lead over the race’s final run, but Larson passed Crews for second after Crews hit the wall.
A few laps later, however, Larson himself brushed the wall, enabling Zilisch to drive away into the Tennessee night.
Notable results
Larson, Crews, Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top five, with Sheldon Creed, polesitter William Sawalich, Day, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray completing the top 10.
Other notable finishers include Ryan Sieg in 11th, defending series champion Jesse Love in 12th, Brandon Jones in 19th, Sam Mayer in 20th and Austin Hill in 21st.
Allgaier won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus by being the highest-finishing of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers.