NASCAR sensation Connor Zilisch has just been given the green light. Fourteen days ago, a harrowing fall in Victory Lane left him with a broken collarbone. But thanks to successful surgery, smart scheduling, and medical review, the 19-year-old phenom has been cleared to race this weekend at Daytona—right in the middle of a tight championship battle. However, the teenager also recognizes the implications and the risks of being in the thick of things this soon after a surgery and opened up about his ultimate strategy to avoid any relapse of his injury.

The injury happened after his sixth win of the season at Watkins Glen, which also marked his 11th straight top-five finish and gave him the Xfinity Series lead. During his celebration, Zilisch climbed onto his car, slipped on the window net, and tumbled head and shoulder first to the ground. Briefly knocked unconscious, he was taken to a local hospital, where doctors diagnosed a broken collarbone. Just 10 days ago, he underwent surgery to have a plate and screws inserted into his collarbone, speeding up the healing process. 

Now, Zilisch knows Daytona comes with risk that he’s prepared to take with a strategy in place. Revealing it, he said: “Parker’s obviously going to be here and we fitted him in the car and he’s going to be ready to go. And, you know, odds are that, you know, just with the risk of, you know, having a wreck at Daytona, you know, my wreck at Talladega, I had black and blue bruises down both of my, you know, shoulders from the belts and just the impact on that. So, you know, I don’t know if I’m going to run the entire race or get out at, you know, a caution.”

If Zilisch starts Friday’s Xfinity race but steps out early, Parker Kligerman will take over. Zilisch would still be credited as the driver of record and earn all championship points for the car’s finish, though any playoff points from stage or race wins would go to Kligerman. Three races are left in the regular season: Daytona, Portland, and Gateway. Zilisch leads teammate Justin Allgaier by seven points in the regular season championship standings. Friday’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola will be the first race since Watkins Glen for Zilisch since his surgery, as he hopes to keep his championship dream alive. Zilisch further added:

“But, you know, obviously safety is still great with these cars and, you know, I’m able to walk away from big wrecks and, you know, just with the fact that the bone isn’t fully healed, you know, obviously the plate is providing a lot of support and I’m feeling much better. It’s sometimes not worth it to find out.”

Even team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. has weighed in on this. But as the series continued, another JR Motorsports driver gave his predictions for this season.

Justin Allgaier is confident that all JR Motorsports cars will make the final four

The Wawa 250 Xfinity race returns to Daytona this weekend, and as the regular season nears its end, last year’s champion is aiming to make a statement. Justin Allgaier, who captured his first Xfinity title in 2024, is already holding the record for the most top 10 finishes in series history. But this season has been a mix of high points and tough stretches for the driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet. Back in February, Daytona threw him an early curveball. Despite running up front for most of the opener, a last-lap crash ended his shot at victory and kept him outside the top 10. Still, hopes remained high heading into the year.

Allgaier reflected, saying, “It’s been interesting this year, I would say, coming off of the last year and us speaking earlier this year, it’s been a lot of fun, and we had a lot of success right out of the gate. Really kind of built off the momentum we had in the playoffs and getting the championship, and then I would say, the last month, month and a half, it’s been super difficult. It’s not gone the way we wanted to, and those are the difficult stretches.”

That early success included wins at Las Vegas, Homestead, and Nashville. But Justin admits the past month and a half has been more challenging. It hasn’t been easy for his teammate Connor Zilisch, who suffered one of the strangest injuries and recent racing memory. Reflecting on the injury, Justin said, “Battling with a shoulder injury or a collarbone injury is never fun. I got surgery for my shoulder in the off-season, and I didn’t even want to go to Daytona.”

Even though Justin remains confident in JR Motorsports’ ability to finish strong. He said, “It would not surprise me at all if we had all of our JR Sport Chevrolets in the final four in Phoenix.” A strong result this weekend at Daytona may just make Justin’s prediction come true.