Connor Zilisch was victorious this past weekend during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen. However, the conversation afterwards was centered on the nasty fall he took while getting out of the car to celebrate his win. The JR Motorsports wheelman slipped and broke his collarbone in the process, but it certainly could’ve been […]
Connor Zilisch was victorious this past weekend during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen. However, the conversation afterwards was centered on the nasty fall he took while getting out of the car to celebrate his win.
The JR Motorsports wheelman slipped and broke his collarbone in the process, but it certainly could’ve been worse, considering the violent collision of his body with the ground. On the latest episode of The Teardown, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic reacted to the scary scene.
“Just so glad that he’s relatively okay,” the NASCAR insider stated. “A broken collarbone sucks, and you don’t know how long he’s going to be out. Just watching that whole thing, I mean, I don’t even think like — maybe people will make jokes about it at some point, but I don’t think it’s going to be funny at all. I don’t think it’s funny now, and I don’t think it’s going to be funny. It’s not like, ‘Haha, what an embarrassing moment this guy.’ I don’t think it’s like that. I’m like, ‘Dude, this was really serious.’ … It wasn’t funny at all.
“He slipped, and then the camera cuts to it, he’s freaking out on the ground. You’re like, ‘Holy crap. Does he have a brain injury? Is he paralyzed?’ Something like that. Did we just see the possible next big thing in NASCAR get hurt in a blink of an eye like that? He’s just celebrating a win. You’re watching that, and it happens so quickly. … That was really frightening. I mean, I felt sick over that for a little bit.”
On the same episode, Gluck’s peer in Jordan Bianchi took a more optimistic look at the situation. Believing it could’ve been much worse, Zilisch might look back on the moment and be a bit thankful.
“I was just like, ‘Dude, this is awful. I’m glad that a broken collarbone is all it was. I guess. Even though it’s not ideal,” Bianchi added. “That was terrible. … I guess you could say, ‘Well, that’s the most embarrassing moment of your life kind of thing,’ because it made the rounds, ‘NASCAR driver falls.’
“If I was him, the emotion would be like, ‘Wow, I actually feel kind of lucky and fortunate here, because that could have been a lot worse rather than, Oh, I’m so embarrassed this happened.’ By the way, if that’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happens in his whole life, I think he’ll be all right.”
Alas, Connor Zilisch has his entire career ahead of him, and it’s a promising one, at that. Once he’s healed up, he’ll be back behind the wheel and winning races again. This is simple a small blip on the radar.
Category: General Sports
