Wearing a smile with his left elbow in a black scarf draped around his neck, Connor Zilisch was back at Watkins Glen International a day after his scary fall in victory lane.
After winning Saturday’s Nascar race on the road course, Zilisch took a nasty fall while trying to perch on his Chevrolet to celebrate.
Zilisch, 19, was taken to hospital and diagnosed with a broken collarbone.
Trackhouse Racing has retired the Chevrolet it was scheduled to drive in Sunday’s Cup race at Watkins Glen.
“First of all, I’m fine,” Zilisch said during the broadcast of the Cup race.
“I’m very grateful to be able to walk away from this, and I guess I didn’t, but I’m very grateful to be walking today and just being okay. Thank you to all the doctors who took care of me, and to everyone who reached out and wished me well. I really appreciate it.”
After his series-high sixth victory, Zilisch realized he was in trouble immediately after the chaos began in victory lane, which is usually a frenzied scene of members of the winning team cheering and throwing drinks as their driver exits the car.
“Yeah, I was getting out of the car and obviously the screen was on the door, and as soon as they started spraying water, my foot slipped,” he said.
“And the last thing I remember is falling halfway, so I’m glad it wasn’t worse, and the collarbone was the extent of the injuries, but I hate that I couldn’t do the race today.”
The question now arises whether Zilisch will be ready in time to compete in the next Nascar race on August 22 at Daytona International Speedway.
“We are still working with all the doctors to determine what the next steps will be,” Zilisch said.
He’s already shown he’s healing quickly this season. After missing one race at Texas Motor Speedway due to a back injury following a crash at Talladega Superspeedway, Zilisch had recorded 11 consecutive top-five finishes and five victories since his return.
He noted that his Trackhouse teammate, Shane van Gisbergen, “had a plate installed once and raced the following weekend. So I don’t know if I’ll be that fast, but I hope my young bones heal quickly and I can get back out there as soon as possible.”
P.A.
