DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Connor Zilisch didn't finish Friday night's race at Daytona International Speedway, but he still added the win to his resume, courtesy of relief driver Parker Kligerman. Now, he has his sights set on an Xfinity Series record.
This win, Zilisch's seventh of the season, put him in a tie with Christopher Bell for the most rookie wins in series history.
"It counts? That's cool," Zilisch proclaimed on Friday night. "That is something that I did want to achieve. I didn't want to achieve it in February because I didn't even know it was a stat, but now that I know that it's a stat, it's a stat that I want to get."
Bell set this record back in 2018, his first season as a full-time driver. He scored his first win of the year at Richmond in the spring, and then he scored three straight wins at Kentucky, Loudon, and Iowa.
Bell's record-setting season continued with another win at Richmond and one at Dover. He then put a bow on the record by winning at Phoenix to put himself into the Championship 4.
Bell ended the season fourth in the championship standings after finishing 11th in the title race.
Zilisch, for comparison, has taken a significantly different path during his rookie season. He won his way into the playoffs at Circuit of the Americas but only posted two top-10 finishes in the next eight races.
The turning point of the season followed an injury. A crash at Talladega knocked Zilisch out of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at Texas. Kyle Larson took over and won the Xfinity Series race.
Since returning to action, Zilisch has finished no worse than fifth in the 11 races that he has started and completed. He has won five races. He started the event at Daytona, so he gets credit for Kligerman's win.
Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography
"So, yeah, seven wins, what are we? August 23rd," Zilisch added. "Still have two-and-a-half months left in the year, so there's still plenty of time left to get more, and that's certainly something that I'm looking forward to doing.
"I think this is the five -- we've won five of the last six with the 88 team. So, yeah, it's a pretty crazy run that we have been on and I'm just really glad that I get to be a small part of this team."
Will Zilisch get this record? It appears likely based on the remaining tracks on the schedule and his track record.
The next event for Xfinity Series teams is at Portland International Raceway, a road course. Zilisch has won three of the five road course races this season, so he will enter as a favorite.
He also will not have to worry about racing Shane van Gisbergen, who will be at Darlington Raceway to kick off the Cup Series playoffs. The two drivers previously made themselves the story on the streets of Chicago and at Sonoma Raceway while battling for wins.
The rest of the Xfinity Series schedule includes a mix of intermediate tracks, flat tracks, short tracks, and another superspeedway. Zilisch also has a date with the Charlotte Roval, another road course where he will enter as the favorite.