“I saw my back shatter”: Dale Jr.'s NASCAR star Connor Zilisch recounts an eerie out-of-body experience after brutal Talladega crash

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team's star driver, Connor Zilisch, opened up about the brutal Talladega crash and revealed that he felt as if his 'back shattered' from inside. Speaking about the ordeal, the JR Motorsports driver stated he immediately knew that something within his body was 'not right.'

Zilisch started the Ag-Pro 300 at the Talladega Superspeedway on April 26 from 13th place after a decent qualifying on Saturday. However, he remained in the same place for most of Stage 1 and ended up in 14th place. In Stage 2, Zilisch moved up to sixth place and was looking strong to win the Talladega race.

As he started the final stage, he was leading the race with only a lap to go, and this was when he encountered the crash. In an effort to block Jesse Love, Zilisch got nudged by the RCR driver from the back and faced a head-on collision against the wall.

The impact of the crash was so severe that he had to miss Andy's Frozen Custard 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway as Kyle Larson filled in for him. Speaking about the crash, Connor Zilisch spoke to Corey LaJoie and Skip Flories of the Stacking Pennies podcast. Here's what he said:

"Like as soon as I hit the wall, II just I literally, this sounds crazy, but um when I was in the car, I when I hit the wall, I closed my eyes and like II was inside of my own body and I saw like my back shatter inside. Like it was the weirdest most like I was It was the weirdest. It's you were just looking at your back go, "Yeah, it sound I mean it it it sounds crazy but I swear when I hit the wall like I saw something."

"And I immediately knew I was like something ain't right and I went to the care center and they cleared me and then you know it was not good. So um yeah, I had to miss Texas and then you know Kyle filled in won the race in my car naturally," he further added. (1:02:11-1:02:47)

Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing claimed the victory ahead of Jeb Burton of Jordan Anderson Racing and Jesse Love, Hill's teammate at RCR. Justin Allgaier and Matt DiBenedetto wrapped up the Top 5.

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How did Connor Zilisch react after his crash at Talladega?

Following the conclusion of the race, Connor Zilisch shared his thoughts as he crashed out of the race. Speaking about the incident in the post-race interview, here's what he told the media:

Connor Zilisch (88) celebrates after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Sonoma Raceway - Source: Imagn

"That was one of the wrecks when you move the legs and make sure everything feels okay afterwards. Very grateful to drive safe JR Motorsports race cars. We were in the right spot. I haven't really watched it close enough to see what happened, but grateful to be up and walking."

Connor Zilisch is in fourth place in the Regular Season Championship with 617 points after 18 races, having picked up three wins, eight Top-5s, 20 Top-10s, four pole positions, and three DNFs. He has led a total of 329 laps and has an average start position of 7.667 and an average finish position of 11.222.