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Connor Zilisch torches 'absolute hack' Corey Day after getting wiped out in final laps at COTA

by: John Jamison10 hours ago

Safe to say Connor Zilisch is not a fan of Corey Day. At the climax of an absolute roller coaster of a COTA race for the 19-year-old phenom, Zilisch spun off the track and sustained significant damage after contact from Day. His reaction says it all.

“Corey Day is a hack. Absolute hack,” Connor Zilisch yelled over his radio after the contact.

“I think everyone saw what happened,” Connor Zilisch said in his post-race interview on The CW broadcast. “I don’t need to explain myself. But really unfortunate. Our Roto Rooter Chevrolet was really fast. We had to change the left rear brake and the entire caliper. I hate that it ended like that for us. We were going to finish top 5 there. Same guy every week that does this. Hopefully he can figure it out. But, yeah, unfortunate.”

“…All I want is an apology,” Zilisch continued. “But the guy just stands over there and stares at me, and just makes it worse. But he’ll figure it out. And, you know, we’ll go on to tomorrow and try to have a better day tomorrow.”

Connor Zilisch looked like potential COTA winner early

After earning pole position for the Focused Health 250 at Cota, Connor Zilisch looked primed to battle it out with SVG for the win. And the first 20 laps of the race today confirmed that.

Connor and SVG’s road course reputations preceded them in Austin, as they quickly gapped the rest of the field and effectively raced each other one-on-one through Stage 1. It wasn’t until a brake rotor issue reared its head on Zilisch’s No. 1 JRM Chevy that he looked vulnerable. But even that wasn’t enough to truly take him out of contention.

After a full brake rotor replacement sent Zilisch to the rear of the field, he began his charge. In the blink of an eye, Zilisch was back up into P17 from P31. The charge continued, seeing the 19-year-old driver reestablish himself in the top 10. A well-timed caution bunched up the pack and brought Zilisch within striking distance. The late contact with Corey Day and subsequent spin, however, would be the final word. Connor Zilisch finished the race P21. Corey Day pressed on after the wreck to earn a P5 finish.