Out on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon, Connor Zilisch is back to his old ways after sitting out a week at Daytona. Zilisch claimed the NASCAR Xfinity Series pole on the Portland International Raceway road course. No shock there.
Connor Zilisch has seven wins this season officially. Of course, his last “win” was actually won by Parker Kligerman after an early driver swap at Daytona. Zilisch broke his collarbone just weeks ago at Watkins Glen while celebrating in Victory Lane.
A very quick time. Justin Allgaier is P2 and was four-tenths slower than the 88. Zilisch is once again on another level on these road courses. This time, it’s on a course he has never raced at before.
It is no shock that Connor Zilisch is on the pole. His road course skills have been on full display this season from the start at COTA. Today, it was obvious in practice and then when he hit he track in qualifying. He got through the middle part of the track so well and really separated himself from the rest of the field.
JR Motorsports put all four drivers in the top-10 in the qualifying session. Zilisch P1, Allgaier P2, Sammy Smith P8, and Carson Kvapil P9. Full results below:
Can anyone challenge Zilisch for the win? There are a few road course ringers in the field and other one-off entries. Takuma Koga is making a start in the 35 car. Alex Labbe is back in the Xfinity Series. Joey Hand, the endurance driver, is racing for RSS Racing in the 28 car in place of Kyle Sieg.
Will Brown and Jack Perkins have come over from Supercars once again. They have a lot of learning to do tonight in the race itself. Vincente Salas, an iRacing/sim driver, is making another start in the series as well. Josh Williams, kicked out of Kaulig this season, is back at DGM Racing.
During this race, it is going to get intense. We are going to see dirt flying, cars rubbing, and racing hard. This race has put on a show in the past few years. I think back to two years ago and the exciting finish that happened with Cole Custer winning the race. Sam Mayer and SVG put on a show last year at Portland, too.
Since the start of the season, Connor Zilisch has been the top of the class on road courses. I don’t expect that to stop any time soon.
