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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Connor Zilisch missing Texas race due to injury

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones04/30/25brianjones_93
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Connor Zilisch
Peter Casey-Imagn Images//Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t like that Connor Zilisch will miss the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend due to an injury. On X/Twitter, Earnhardt reacted to the news of Zilisch being out on Saturday.

“It sucks to see Connor have to sit out but I’m thankful he is being smart and patient with this injury,” Earnhardt wrote. “He’ll be back in the seat and back at the front of the field soon enough.”

JR Motorsports announced that Zilisch won’t compete at the Texas race on Saturday due to an injury he suffered at Talladega this past weekend. Zilisch was involved in a single-car wreck during the final lap and was complaining about his back.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Zilisch said. “That’s one of the wrecks where you move your legs and make sure everything feels okay afterwards. So, very grateful to drive safe JR Motorsports race cars. Our WeatherTech Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity Mobile. We were in the right spot, just, yeah, I haven’t really watched it close enough to know what happened. But yeah, grateful to be up and walking.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says Connor Zilisch is ‘an impressive driver’

Connor Zilisch was leading on the last lap down the backstretch when Jesse Love pushed him out of line. That’s when Zilisch took a head-on hit to the inside wall.

Love came by to see Zilisch, who said there’s no hard feelings between the two drivers. “Yeah, that’s great,” Zilisch added. “Jesse’s probably my best friend in the world, and I’m grateful to have someone like him who can come and stand in front of me, and you know, give me a hug after that.”

Zilisch is in his first year as a full-time Xfinity Series driver. He won the COTA race earlier this year and is currently sixth in the Xfinity Series points standings.

“Connor is such an impressive driver at this young age,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said in August. “We’re excited for him to get behind the wheel full-time next season. He is on a path to sure success with support from Chevrolet, Trackhouse Racing, and now JR Motorsports.”