NASCAR Xfinity Series star Connor Zilisch suffered a broken collarbone after slipping and falling off of his car in Victory Lane, the driver announced on social media. Zilisch, 19, had just earned his sixth win of the 2025 season at Watkins Glen International and was climbing out of his car to stand on the driver’s door and celebrate when he lost his balance and fell to the ground, landing hard on the pavement by the side of his car.
Zilisch did not get up immediately afterwards and required medical attention. He was then taken out of Victory Lane on a stretcher and to the infield care center via ambulance for further evaluation before being taken to a local hospital. Zilisch was released from the hospital before night’s end, posting online that he had injured his collarbone but that CT scans of his head came back clear.
“Thank you everybody for reaching out today. I’m out of the hospital and getting better already,” Zilisch wrote on X. “Thankfully, CT scans for my head are clear, I just have a broken collarbone. Thankful for all the medics for quick attention and grateful it wasn’t any worse.”
Zilisch had just earned his sixth win of the 2025 season, continuing a hot streak that has vaulted him all the way to the top of the Xfinity Series standings and affirmed him as a bona fide championship contender. He has emerged as perhaps NASCAR’s brightest young star. After missing one race due to a back injury suffered in a crash racing for the win on the final lap at Talladega in April, Zilisch has gone on a statistical run that parallels some of the best in Xfinity Series history, as he has rattled off 11 consecutive top five finishes since his return at Charlotte in May with wins at Pocono, Sonoma, Dover, Indianapolis and now Watkins Glen. Zilisch also won earlier this year at Circuit of the Americas in March.
Zilisch was also scheduled to compete in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, where he had qualified 25th, but Trackhouse Racing announced Saturday evening that the team would withdraw Zilisch’s No. 87 Chevrolet. Zilisch’s next scheduled start in the Xfinity Series comes in two weeks’ time when the series makes its return trip to Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 22.