On Saturday, NASCAR driver Connor Zilisch posted on social media that he had fallen from his car in victory lane and cracked his collarbone. At the time of the collision, the Xfinity Series points leader had won his sixth race of the year at the Watkins Glen International racetrack in New York.
Zilisch was celebrating his triumph by scaling the roof of his No. 88 Chevrolet. The racing news site Speedway Digest posted a video of the incident, which showed Zilisch falling headfirst onto the ground below after slipping from the driver’s side window where he had planted his left foot, seemingly after trapping it in window netting.
According to NASCAR, Zilisch, 19, was carried to the trackside medical center on a backboard before being taken to a hospital for additional testing. He was “awake and alert” at the time, the business stated.
A few hours later, Zilisch posted on social media to acknowledge the difficult fall. He wrote: “Thank you everybody for reaching out today. I’m out of the hospital and getting better already,”. “Thankfully, CT scans for my head are clear, I just have a broken collarbone.”
I’ve watched racing for 35 yrs and I’ve never seen anything like this happen. Zilisch the biggest young star in Nascar you hate to see something so flukey like this happen to the kid. pic.twitter.com/JCl5dPaHoM
— Wesley Colvin (@TruUKFan) August 9, 2025
The motorist was “thankful it wasn’t any worse” and thanked the hospital staff “for quick attention.”
The No. 87 Chevrolet that Zilisch was supposed to drive in the Cup race on Sunday at Watkins Glen was withdrawn by Trackhouse Racing. On August 22, Zilisch will make his next Xfinity start at Daytona International Speedway. Zilisch, a driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team, had a busy day that culminated in the frightening incident.
