Connor Zilisch Freak Fall, Harm Will not Dissuade Drivers From Celebrating Wins

RICHMOND, Va. — Ross Chastain saw his Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch fall from his car in a victory celebration a week ago and potentially could miss a race (or more) with a broken collarbone.

But despite the danger that Chastain witnessed, he has no plans to change his victory celebration.

An eighth-generation watermelon farmer, Chastain is known to stand atop his car and smash a watermelon.

“We’re good,” Chastain said. “It’s recommended to do that. No hesitation here. If we’re smashing watermelons, we’re doing OK.

“It is a good reminder that there’s dangerous things in life everywhere we go.”

From serious concern to uncontrollable laughter, drivers had a variety of responses to Zilisch’s fall and injury — and to how they might approach their victory celebrations.

Zilisch, a 19-year-old driver who leads the Xfinity standings for JR Motorsports and who is set to move to Cup next season as the soon-to-be-announced replacement of Daniel Suarez at Trackhouse Racing, feels lucky he wasn’t more seriously injured in the Aug. 9 incident.

The fall occurred when he had one foot on the driver’s window sill and one foot on the roof. He had not tucked the window net (the driver’s side does not have a window installed but instead a mesh net used to keep debris out but can be quickly unhooked for the driver exit). When the team doused him with water after he got out of the car, his foot slipped on the net and he fell hard to the ground. He indicated he was briefly knocked unconscious.

Zilisch had surgery on Tuesday. The Xfinity Series had the Richmond weekend off and Zilisch’s status for this upcoming weekend’s race at Daytona is still to be determined. 

RFK Racing driver and co-owner Brad Keselowski said he won’t tell his drivers how to celebrate.

“I’m not looking to be the car police on what you can and can’t do,” Keselowski said. “It certainly was an interesting moment. That’s something I’ve never seen before.”

Keselowski, who once sliced his hand open when he accidentally broke a champagne bottle in victory lane, said he probably won’t stand on his car.

“I think I’ll just grab my American flag and stand outside of it,” Keselowski said. “But man, that was sure scary. The video … because now that we know Connor is OK, it’s one of the funniest damn videos I’ve ever seen in my life.

“We’ve all had our moments.”

While Keselowski sounds like he will watch the video for laughs, one driver who won’t watch it is Christopher Bell.

“I didn’t watch it,” Bell said. “Obviously, it broke the internet. I heard about it and all my friends are texting me, like, ‘Oh my gosh, did you see this?’ And they’re sending me the video of it.

“I can’t open it. I won’t watch it. That’s too grueling. I’m not going to watch.”

Bell said he doesn’t watch any accident — on the track or off the track — if someone gets injured. He said he will learn about what caused it and any preventative measures to take, but he doesn’t need to watch it.

And he also doesn’t need anyone to tell him that he shouldn’t climb atop the car.

“No one’s told me that, but I can promise you, I’ve done my last car stand for a while,” Bell said. “That’s for sure. That’s just so eye-opening and scary. And it’s bad. It’s really bad.”

NASCAR seems more than willing to leave it up to the drivers. It does not want drivers to jump up-and-down on top of the car after a race because of the potential that it would have on the integrity of the car before it goes through post-race technical inspection.

But if a driver wants to put a foot on the roof or climb up on top, that’s fine.

Drivers obviously like the freedom to have that choice. Chase Elliott, who once broke his leg snowboarding just prior to a race weekend, was all for drivers getting on top of their cars.

“Stuff happens,” Elliott said. “That’s life. The guy was enjoying a great day. He messed up.

“It was an accident. I don’t fault him for enjoying his moment. He rightfully earned that and whatever he wants to do, he should do it. … If something warranted a climb, yeah absolutely [I’d do it].”

William Byron, who gained the Daytona 500, in contrast Zilisch’s harm to falling down a flight of stairs.

“I hated to see Connor undergo that, in order that was powerful to see, however I feel all of us will study somewhat bit from it,” Byron mentioned. “And I am certain the following man’s most likely nervous to get out of the automotive.

“However we have performed it for years. It is sort of like falling down stairs. You do it each day, after which one thing occurs. You’ll be able to’t simply reside in bubble wrap. So it simply is a part of life, I assume.”

Ryan Preece has began 212 races and seeks his first Cup win. Nothing will cease him from celebrating that preliminary victory.

“I’d climb up on prime,” Preece mentioned. “And I probably would possibly even do a backflip. However I don’t suppose the backflip would go very effectively.”

The winner of the race Saturday evening at Richmond didn’t hesitate to face on his automotive. Austin Dillon stood on the driving force’s aspect window sill each on the frontstretch after the race in addition to in victory lane.

Dillon mentioned they’d a crew member on the automotive “to verify this [window net] is contained in the automotive now so the window internet would not journey me up.”

Austin Cindric, one of many tallest drivers within the Cup storage, mentioned for him, it will be a “massive tree, fall arduous” second.

“It’s most likely not going to cease me from being overly excited once I get out of the race automotive,” Cindric mentioned. “In case you’re going up on prime, I assume the ethical of the story there’s you would possibly as effectively simply stand on the roof.”

And if one thing occurs, it occurs.

“You do that sport lengthy sufficient, you are sure to have a second that you simply want you would have again,” Keselowski mentioned. “I’ve obtained fairly a couple of of them. And Connor obtained his first one.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent many years masking motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seashore) Information-Journal. Comply with him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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