For the first time this season, Connor Zilisch was having a dominant run in the NASCAR Cup Series. Even though the NASCAR All-Star was a non-championship race, Zilisch could have still gone home with some happy memories and experiences. However, a pit crew penalty ended that possibility.

Having started the day in fifth, Zilisch came home in fifth as well. With 125 laps remaining, Zilisch was running in second place behind eventual winner Denny Hamlin. Seeing Hamlin pit, Zilisch dived in for the pit as well, and everything changed here.

As the #88 Trackhouse Racing team almost completed Zilisch's pit stop, a tire rolled towards Noah Gragson's box.

This interfered with one of Gragson's crew members, and NASCAR noticed it, and as a consequence, handed Zilisch a penalty, which sent him at the back of the pack, with 120 laps remaining.

But despite that, he battled it all once again and finish fifth. He admitted that it was a monumental task to cover up all the places and move to the front of the field. "It would have taken a lot to beat the [No.] 11 [eventual winner Denny Hamlin] and the [No.] 19 [runner-up Chase Briscoe].

Had it not been for the penalty, he would've naturally been in a contention to win. Nonetheless, he is happy.

“It was a really good day for Trackhouse [Racing] and this [No.] 88 team,” Zilisch told Frontstretch post-race. “We needed a day like this where we had contending speed. It’s been a long year, and, you know, moments of hope like this certainly feel good.”

In the end, Connor Zilisch came home in fifth place, ahead of Austin Cindric and behind Austin Dillon. Hamlin won the race, as Chase Briscoe and Erik Jones wrapped up the podium.

Connor Zilisch revealed what made #88 team different at Dover

Despite all the hype surrounding Connor Zilisch, his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series has not been up to par, at least not as yet. With only one top five and one top 10 (at Dover) in 13 races, the Trackhouse Racing driver failed to live up to the expectations.

However, at Dover, things were different. Speaking about how the team turned things around at the Monster Mile track, here's what Zilisch said:

“I don’t really know what to point it to. We still had some balance issues, but the potential was there. We had potential in our racecar. We have been working really hard, everyone at Trackhouse, to get that and to make it to where even on the bad days, we are still running decent.”

Currently, Connor Zilisch is in 32nd place in the Drivers' Standings with 145 points. Tyler Reddick is leading the championship with 567 points, followed by Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott, with 438 and 422 points, respectively.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason