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Freddie Kraft, Austin Cindric hilariously react to Connor Zilisch nearly running over cameraman at Gateway

ProfilePhotoby: Nick Geddes18 hours agoNickGeddesNews
Connor Zilisch
Joe Puetz-Imagn Images

Connor Zilisch flirted with disaster after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Gateway. After taking his series leading ninth checkered flag of the season, Zilisch slid down the front straightaway in preparation for his victory burnout.

He almost took out a cameraman doing it. Somehow, the cameraman didn’t even flinch as Zilisch came sliding mere feet away from him. If you’ve paid attention to Zilisch’s celebrations this season, you know it’s been an adventure. The thing is, Zilisch can’t stop winning; Gateway was his eighth win his last 11 starts. For the safety of both Zilisch and everyone around him, Freddie Kraft joked that “he needs to stop winning.”

“F*ck, that kid can’t stop winning. He needs to stop winning, like I tweeted the other day that somebody’s going to get hurt,” Kraft said on Monday’s Door Bumper Clear podcast. “He’s falling off race cars, he almost smokes a cameraman the other day, he ripped his fire suit.”

Connor Zilisch can’t figure out a way to celebrate safely

Austin Cindric said that from his experience, he’s never seen the cameraman on the racetrack until he’s already started his burnout. This could have been really bad, and Cindric knows it.

“Yeah, I mean, really pushing the issue here, man. I think that cameraman thing shouldn’t be talked about because holy cow, that was really close,” Cindric said. “Think about that every time. I mean, those guys are — first of all — super athletic. I think he probably could have jumped that wall and been fine. But good God. … In my past experience, it’s been like already after you’ve started [your burnout], like, there he is.”

After his win at Watkins Glen, Zilisch fell off the roof of his car in Victory Lane. He suffered a broken collarbone from the fall. Since then, Zilisch has found creative ways to get out of his car in Victory Lane. Saturday, he ripped his fire suit sliding down the windshield of his car.

If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. There are worse problems to have than figuring out how to safely get out of your car after winning, but Zilisch is still searching for a solution.

“I guess I just can’t celebrate,” Zilisch said, via Steven Taranto of CBS Sports. “I should just get out of the car and sit on the ground because everything I do just seems to go to Hell.”