Zilisch holds off Larson to win Suburban Propane 300

BRISTOL — Connor Zilisch returned to victory lane in his return to the O'Reilly Series on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. Zilisch, driving the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, held off Kyle Busch and Brent Crews in the closing laps to win the Suburban Propane 300. Crew chief Rodney Childers made the decision to leave Zilisch on the track with old tires with 27 laps to go when Larson and others decided to come in and get fresh rubber. "We got the track position we needed to go out and win the race," Zilisch said. "It's really cool to race against Kyle and learn from him. He's such a great race car driver. Rodney has won a lot of races in his career, but it's super special to get his first one with JRM." The 12th O'Reilly Series victory of Zilisch's career was a confidence boost for the young driver, who has struggled with no finishes better than 14th in his first seven races in the Cup Series. "Coming from the back every week, you forget who you are," said Zilisch, a 19-year-old from Mooresville, N.C. "When you win everything on the way up, then you run 20th in the Cup Series, it takes a toll on you. This feels good, a great way to change your attitude." Larson led four times for 230 laps in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet in a dominant performance most of the night. The two-time and defending Cup Series champion started third and drove to the lead with a pass of William Sawalich on lap 29. He held the top spot until coming to the pits on lap 65, handing the lead to Ryan Sieg. Larson reclaimed the top spot when he passed Sieg with six laps to go in stage 1. Larson continued to show the way, leading all 85 laps in stage 2 and the first 103 laps of the final stage. Larson was stalking Zilisch over the last few circuits, but lost any chance to winning when he drifted high nearly into the turn 4 wall with two laps to go. Crews had mixed emotions after driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a third-place finish. The 18-year-old from Hickory, N.C., was thrilled to be racing up front, but felt he missed a great opportunity to win. "My feelings are heartbroken, but, I'm grateful to be here racing in this series. This is a dream come true," Crews said. "I've been racing with Connor since we were little kids, so that was a full-circle moment. Then, watching Kyle Larson every week and now racing him, running the top at Bristol, that was super cool." Crews was the only driver outside the JR Motorsports group in the top five. Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil finished in the fourth and fifth spots. Allgaier claimed a $100,000 "Dash for Cash" bonus from the series sponsor program. Sheldon Creed, also in a Chevrolet, finished sixth, ahead of William Sawalich in another Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Corey Day and Parker Retzlaff were eighth and ninth in Chevrolets with Tanner Gray in a Toyota rounding out the top 10. Allgaier now leads the O'Reilly Series driver standings by 130 points over Creed with defending series champion Jesse Love in third. The action heated up early for Mason Maggio who went for a spin on the opening lap. Maggio had more excitement later in the race when his engine blew and his No. 91 Chevrolet erupted in fire on pit road. QUALIFYING Sawalich, the series' most recent winner at Rockingham, followed it up with a pole winning run of 15.634 seconds at 122.733 mph in his No. 18 Toyota. Creed was second in the No. 00 Chevrolet at 15.676 seconds and 122.404 mph with Larson third fastest.