“Killed our chance”: Connor Zilisch makes his frustration clear as Daniel Suarez steals the spotlight in Mexico City

Following Saturday’s The Chilango 150 at the iconic Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Connor Zilisch was left frustrated. A final stage tangle spun him out of contention and sent him to the back of the field for a restart.

There was another caution with only seven laps to go. Zilisch was running inside the top-10 at the time, and a late-race caution like that could have helped. However, it all happened too late.

Zilisch could only salvage a fifth-place finish. NASCAR Cup Series driver Daniel Suarez bagged the win while Taylor Gray, Austin Hill, and Christian Eckes completed the top-four.

During his post-race interview with Matt Weaver, Connor Zilisch said,

“I probably could have just let the 2 (Jesse Love) outside of me have it. That late in the race I feel like you gotta race for it. But yeah, frustrating. The restarts were hectic all day long. You know, that long of a straightaway, you're going so fast into Turn 1 and the brakes weren't so big, so much was happening.”

Besides spinning out on that last restart, Zilisch’s car took significant damage from the contact with Ty Gibbs. Needless to say, this affected the 18-year-old's progress through the final four-lap shootout.

“Killed our chance to get the win but proud that we came back to finish top five,” the JR Motorsports rookie added.

Connor Zilisch finds himself fifth in the driver standings with 430 points to his name. 15 races in, the 18-year-old Charlotte native has amassed four top-fives and six top-10s in all. Next up for the youngster is the Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway.

Scheduled for Saturday, June 21, the 100-lap event will be televised on CW, 3:30 pm ET onwards. Fans can also listen to live radio updates exclusively on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Connor Zilisch lands a spotting opportunity ahead of Sunday’s Cup race in Mexico City

For the first time in his career, Connor Zilisch will be seen atop the pitbox, spotting for Ross Chastain during practice for Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 Cup Series race. Per reports, Chastain’s usual spotter, Brandon McReynolds, will be back for Sunday’s main event.

Journalist Steven Taranto recently reported the news via X (formerly known as Twitter). He wrote,

“Connor Zilisch is filling in as Ross Chastain's spotter during this practice session. Chastain's usual spotter Brandon McReynolds was among the Trackhouse Racing employees affected by the team's travel issues. Broadcast said it was the Zilisch has ever spotted, but he did do some spotting in Chicago a year ago.”

Connor Zilisch is currently signed with Trackhouse Racing as a development driver for the 2025 season. He has a win that came at COTA earlier this year.

Zilisch also competes in select races across multiple racing disciplines, including the CARS Tour, the Trans-Am Series, the IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the Global MX-5 Cup. He is also a Red Bull-sponsored athlete.