{"id":505299,"date":"2026-02-28T13:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/505299\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T13:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T13:18:10","slug":"zilisch-wins-nascar-oreilly-auto-parts-series-pole-at-cota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/505299\/","title":{"rendered":"Zilisch wins NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series pole at COTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connor Zilisch (pictured) kicked off his double-duty NASCAR weekend at Circuit of The Americas<\/a> in style, claiming the pole position for the Focused Health 250 in the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series during Friday\u2019s qualifying session.<\/p>\n

\u2013by Mark Cipolloni\u2013<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Cup Series rookie, driving for Trackhouse Racing in the premier division, returned to the O\u2019Reilly 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\u2014who is also competing for JR Motorsports this weekend\u2014by 0.209 seconds (97.949 seconds, 88.209 mph).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to be back in these cars. Thanks to JR Motorsports for having me and Safety Culture. It\u2019s really fun,\u201d van Gisbergen said after his run. \u201cThey just move around so much. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Shane van Gisbergen in the #9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro at Circuit of the Americas during the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series practice<\/p>\n

Zilisch will lead the 38-car field to the green flag for Saturday\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Zilisch posted the ninth-fastest time in practice but dealt with a tire puncture. \u201cWe had a bit of an issue in practice and cut a tire down,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe made some adjustments on the front end to not do that again. The entire #1 crew\u2014it\u2019s great being with Rodney [Childers], having his experience, and everyone here in this JR Motorsports team. It\u2019s been a lot of fun getting back with these guys in the O\u2019Reilly car. I love coming back and racing these cars; they\u2019re a ton of fun. We\u2019ve got a fast Chevrolet for tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Busy weekend for me, but great way to start it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series Circuit of the Americas, Qualifying<\/p>\n

Pos
\nNo.
\nDriver
\nTeam
\nTime
\nBehind
\nGap<\/p>\n

1
\n1
\nConnor Zilisch(i)
\nRoto-Rooter Chevrolet
\n97.740
\n0.000
\n0.000<\/p>\n

2
\n9
\nShane Van Gisbergen(i)
\nSafety Culture Chevrolet
\n97.949
\n0.209
\n0.209<\/p>\n

3
\n21
\nAustin Hill
\nBennett Transportation Chevrolet
\n98.359
\n0.619
\n0.410<\/p>\n

4
\n20
\nBrandon Jones
\nMenards\/Fisher Toyota
\n98.448
\n0.708
\n0.089<\/p>\n

5
\n7
\nJustin Allgaier
\nBRANDT Chevrolet
\n98.562
\n0.822
\n0.114<\/p>\n

6
\n91
\nCarson Kvapil
\nClarience Technologies Chevrolet
\n98.572
\n0.832
\n0.010<\/p>\n

7
\n19
\nBrent Crews
\nYoung Life Toyota
\n98.670
\n0.930
\n0.098<\/p>\n

8
\n41
\nSam Mayer
\nCharbroil Chevrolet
\n98.717
\n0.977
\n0.047<\/p>\n

9
\n0
\nSheldon Creed
\nRoad Ranger Chevrolet
\n98.786
\n1.046
\n0.069<\/p>\n

10
\n8
\nSammy Smith
\nPilot Chevrolet
\n98.863
\n1.123
\n0.077<\/p>\n

11
\n2
\nJesse Love
\nWhelen Chevrolet
\n98.887
\n1.147
\n0.024<\/p>\n

12
\n17
\nCorey Day
\nHendrickCars.com Chevrolet
\n98.900
\n1.160
\n0.013<\/p>\n

13
\n87
\nAustin Green
\nPeterson Racing Chevrolet
\n98.903
\n1.163
\n0.003<\/p>\n

14
\n54
\nTaylor Gray
\nOperation 300 Toyota
\n99.021
\n1.281
\n0.118<\/p>\n

15
\n18
\nWilliam Sawalich
\nSoundgear Toyota
\n99.393
\n1.653
\n0.372<\/p>\n

16
\n96
\nAnthony Alfredo
\nProtein Rice Treats Chevrolet
\n99.429
\n1.689
\n0.036<\/p>\n

17
\n50
\nPreston Pardus
\nChincor Electric Inc. Chevrolet
\n99.483
\n1.743
\n0.054<\/p>\n

18
\n39
\nRyan Sieg
\nSciAps\/SIMS METAL Chevrolet
\n99.542
\n1.802
\n0.059<\/p>\n

19
\n88
\nRajah Caruth
\nHendrickCars.com Chevrolet
\n99.544
\n1.804
\n0.002<\/p>\n

20
\n25
\nNick Sanchez
\nPaynuity Ford
\n99.546
\n1.806
\n0.002<\/p>\n

21
\n32
\nRoss Chastain(i)
\nGLF Environmental Chevrolet
\n99.586
\n1.846
\n0.040<\/p>\n

22
\n55
\nSage Karam
\nPoint Blank Tequila Toyota
\n99.947
\n2.207
\n0.361<\/p>\n

23
\n24
\nHarrison Burton
\nDEX\/Sharp Toyota
\n100.024
\n2.284
\n0.077<\/p>\n

24
\n31
\nBlaine Perkins
\nWERNER Chevrolet
\n100.140
\n2.400
\n0.116<\/p>\n

25
\n7
\nJosh Bilicki
\nCircle B Diecast Chevrolet
\n100.145
\n2.405
\n0.005<\/p>\n

26
\n44
\nBrennan Poole
\nFrontline Fire Protection Chevrolet
\n100.190
\n2.450
\n0.045<\/p>\n

27
\n26
\nDean Thompson
\nThompson Pipe Group Toyota
\n100.241
\n2.501
\n0.051<\/p>\n

28
\n0
\nAlex Labbe
\nTrophy Tractor Chevrolet
\n100.243
\n2.503
\n0.002<\/p>\n

29
\n99
\nParker Retzlaff
\nViking Motorsports Chevrolet
\n100.431
\n2.691
\n0.188<\/p>\n

30
\n51
\nJeremy Clements
\nAlliance Driveway Solutions Chevrolet
\n100.462
\n2.722
\n0.031<\/p>\n

31
\n45
\nLavar Scott #
\nUrban Affairs Coalition Chevrolet
\n100.484
\n2.744
\n0.022<\/p>\n

32
\n48
\nPatrick Staropoli
\nSyfovre Chevrolet
\n100.702
\n2.962
\n0.218<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Zilisch (pictured) kicked off his double-duty NASCAR weekend at Circuit of The Americas in style, claiming the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-505299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}