AUSTIN, Texas — Connor Zilisch opened his double-duty NASCAR at COTA weekend in fashion by winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole position during qualifying Friday for the Focused Health 250 at Circuit of The Americas.
Zilisch, a NASCAR Cup Series rookie with Trackhouse Racing, returned to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this weekend for JR Motorsports and secured the pole for the second consecutive season for the organization.
His lap of 88.398 miles per hour (97.740 seconds) on the 17-turn, 2.4 mile National Course allowed him to edge his Trackhouse Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen, who also is running the event for JR Motorsports, by .209 of a second (88.209 mph/97.949 seconds).
Zilisch will lead the 38-car field to the green flag for Saturday’s 65-lap Focused Health 250 beginning at 2 p.m. The pole was his first of the season and 10th of his career.
Zilisch led a qualifying parade of JR Motorsports drivers, with the organization claiming three of the top five positions and four of the top 10, with Justin Allgaier qualifying fifth (87.661 mph, 98.562 seconds.) and Sammy Smith 10th (87.394 mph, 98.863 seconds.).
Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing and Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing broke up the JR Motorsports dominance by qualifying third and fourth, respectively. Hill, who won from the pole at the season-opening race in Daytona, secured a second-row position with a lap of 87.841 mph (98.359 seconds). Jones followed with a season-best qualifying effort with his lap of 87.762 mph (98.448 seconds).
