Zilisch wins NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole at COTA

Connor Zilisch (pictured) kicked off his double-duty NASCAR weekend at Circuit of The Americas in style, claiming the pole position for the Focused Health 250 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series during Friday’s qualifying session.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The NASCAR Cup Series rookie, driving for Trackhouse Racing in the premier division, returned to the O’Reilly Series this weekend with JR Motorsports. He secured the pole for the team for the second straight year, posting a lap time of 97.740 seconds (88.398 mph) on the 17-turn, 2.4-mile National Course. That edged out his Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen—who is also competing for JR Motorsports this weekend—by 0.209 seconds (97.949 seconds, 88.209 mph).

“It’s fun to be back in these cars. Thanks to JR Motorsports for having me and Safety Culture. It’s really fun,” van Gisbergen said after his run. “They just move around so much. It’s really cool. My lap was good, but that little bugger is pretty quick. Hopefully we race him tomorrow. My long-run speed was good in the race runs we did in practice. Who knows? Up the front is a good place to start.”

Shane van Gisbergen in the #9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro at Circuit of the Americas during the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series practice

Zilisch will lead the 38-car field to the green flag for Saturday’s 65-lap race, which starts at 2 p.m. CT (TV: CW; Radio: PRN, SiriusXM). This marks his first pole of the season and the 10th of his career.

Earlier in the day, Zilisch posted the ninth-fastest time in practice but dealt with a tire puncture. “We had a bit of an issue in practice and cut a tire down,” he explained. “We made some adjustments on the front end to not do that again. The entire #1 crew—it’s great being with Rodney [Childers], having his experience, and everyone here in this JR Motorsports team. It’s been a lot of fun getting back with these guys in the O’Reilly car. I love coming back and racing these cars; they’re a ton of fun. We’ve got a fast Chevrolet for tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Busy weekend for me, but great way to start it.”

JR Motorsports dominated qualifying, claiming three of the top five spots and four of the top 10. Justin Allgaier qualified fifth (98.562 seconds, 87.661 mph), while Sammy Smith took 10th (98.863 seconds, 87.394 mph).

Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing and Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing interrupted the JR Motorsports sweep by securing third and fourth, respectively. Hill, who won from the pole in the season opener at Daytona, turned a lap of 98.359 seconds (87.841 mph). Jones delivered his best qualifying effort of the year at 98.448 seconds (87.762 mph).

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Circuit of the Americas, Qualifying

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Time	Behind	Gap
1	1	Connor Zilisch(i)	Roto-Rooter Chevrolet	97.740	0.000	0.000
2	9	Shane Van Gisbergen(i)	Safety Culture Chevrolet	97.949	0.209	0.209
3	21	Austin Hill	Bennett Transportation Chevrolet	98.359	0.619	0.410
4	20	Brandon Jones	Menards/Fisher Toyota	98.448	0.708	0.089
5	7	Justin Allgaier	BRANDT Chevrolet	98.562	0.822	0.114
6	91	Carson Kvapil	Clarience Technologies Chevrolet	98.572	0.832	0.010
7	19	Brent Crews	Young Life Toyota	98.670	0.930	0.098
8	41	Sam Mayer	Charbroil Chevrolet	98.717	0.977	0.047
9	0	Sheldon Creed	Road Ranger Chevrolet	98.786	1.046	0.069
10	8	Sammy Smith	Pilot Chevrolet	98.863	1.123	0.077
11	2	Jesse Love	Whelen Chevrolet	98.887	1.147	0.024
12	17	Corey Day	HendrickCars.com Chevrolet	98.900	1.160	0.013
13	87	Austin Green	Peterson Racing Chevrolet	98.903	1.163	0.003
14	54	Taylor Gray	Operation 300 Toyota	99.021	1.281	0.118
15	18	William Sawalich	Soundgear Toyota	99.393	1.653	0.372
16	96	Anthony Alfredo	Protein Rice Treats Chevrolet	99.429	1.689	0.036
17	50	Preston Pardus	Chincor Electric Inc. Chevrolet	99.483	1.743	0.054
18	39	Ryan Sieg	SciAps/SIMS METAL Chevrolet	99.542	1.802	0.059
19	88	Rajah Caruth	HendrickCars.com Chevrolet	99.544	1.804	0.002
20	25	Nick Sanchez	Paynuity Ford	99.546	1.806	0.002
21	32	Ross Chastain(i)	GLF Environmental Chevrolet	99.586	1.846	0.040
22	55	Sage Karam	Point Blank Tequila Toyota	99.947	2.207	0.361
23	24	Harrison Burton	DEX/Sharp Toyota	100.024	2.284	0.077
24	31	Blaine Perkins	WERNER Chevrolet	100.140	2.400	0.116
25	7	Josh Bilicki	Circle B Diecast Chevrolet	100.145	2.405	0.005
26	44	Brennan Poole	Frontline Fire Protection Chevrolet	100.190	2.450	0.045
27	26	Dean Thompson	Thompson Pipe Group Toyota	100.241	2.501	0.051
28	0	Alex Labbe	Trophy Tractor Chevrolet	100.243	2.503	0.002
29	99	Parker Retzlaff	Viking Motorsports Chevrolet	100.431	2.691	0.188
30	51	Jeremy Clements	Alliance Driveway Solutions Chevrolet	100.462	2.722	0.031
31	45	Lavar Scott #	Urban Affairs Coalition Chevrolet	100.484	2.744	0.022
32	48	Patrick Staropoli	Syfovre Chevrolet	100.702	2.962	0.218