Connor Zilisch Freak Fall, Cedera tidak akan menghalangi pengemudi dari merayakan kemenangan

RICHMOND, Va. — Ross Chastain saw his Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch fall from his car in a victory celebration a week ago and potentially could miss a race (or more) with a broken collarbone.

But despite the danger that Chastain witnessed, he has no plans to change his victory celebration.

An eighth-generation watermelon farmer, Chastain is known to stand atop his car and smash a watermelon.

“We’re good,” Chastain said. “It’s recommended to do that. No hesitation here. If we’re smashing watermelons, we’re doing OK.

“It is a good reminder that there’s dangerous things in life everywhere we go.”

From serious concern to uncontrollable laughter, drivers had a variety of responses to Zilisch’s fall and injury — and to how they might approach their victory celebrations.

Zilisch, a 19-year-old driver who leads the Xfinity standings for JR Motorsports and who is set to move to Cup next season as the soon-to-be-announced replacement of Daniel Suarez at Trackhouse Racing, feels lucky he wasn’t more seriously injured in the Aug. 9 incident.

The fall occurred when he had one foot on the driver’s window sill and one foot on the roof. He had not tucked the window net (the driver’s side does not have a window installed but instead a mesh net used to keep debris out but can be quickly unhooked for the driver exit). When the team doused him with water after he got out of the car, his foot slipped on the net and he fell hard to the ground. He indicated he was briefly knocked unconscious.

Zilisch had surgery on Tuesday. The Xfinity Series had the Richmond weekend off and Zilisch’s status for this upcoming weekend’s race at Daytona is still to be determined. 

RFK Racing driver and co-owner Brad Keselowski said he won’t tell his drivers how to celebrate.

“I’m not looking to be the car police on what you can and can’t do,” Keselowski said. “It certainly was an interesting moment. That’s something I’ve never seen before.”

Keselowski, who once sliced his hand open when he accidentally broke a champagne bottle in victory lane, said he probably won’t stand on his car.

“I think I’ll just grab my American flag and stand outside of it,” Keselowski said. “But man, that was sure scary. The video … because now that we know Connor is OK, it’s one of the funniest damn videos I’ve ever seen in my life.

“We’ve all had our moments.”

While Keselowski sounds like he will watch the video for laughs, one driver who won’t watch it is Christopher Bell.

“I didn’t watch it,” Bell said. “Obviously, it broke the internet. I heard about it and all my friends are texting me, like, ‘Oh my gosh, did you see this?’ And they’re sending me the video of it.

“I can’t open it. I won’t watch it. That’s too grueling. I’m not going to watch.”

Bell said he doesn’t watch any accident — on the track or off the track — if someone gets injured. He said he will learn about what caused it and any preventative measures to take, but he doesn’t need to watch it.

And he also doesn’t need anyone to tell him that he shouldn’t climb atop the car.

“No one’s told me that, but I can promise you, I’ve done my last car stand for a while,” Bell said. “That’s for sure. That’s just so eye-opening and scary. And it’s bad. It’s really bad.”

NASCAR seems more than willing to leave it up to the drivers. It does not want drivers to jump up-and-down on top of the car after a race because of the potential that it would have on the integrity of the car before it goes through post-race technical inspection.

But if a driver wants to put a foot on the roof or climb up on top, that’s fine.

Drivers obviously like the freedom to have that choice. Chase Elliott, who once broke his leg snowboarding just prior to a race weekend, was all for drivers getting on top of their cars.

“Stuff happens,” Elliott said. “That’s life. The guy was enjoying a great day. He messed up.

“It was an accident. I don’t fault him for enjoying his moment. He rightfully earned that and whatever he wants to do, he should do it. … If something warranted a climb, yeah absolutely [I’d do it]. “

William Byron, yang memenangkan Daytona 500, membandingkan cedera Zilisch dengan jatuh dari tangga.

“Saya benci melihat Connor melewati itu, jadi itu sulit dilihat, tetapi saya pikir kita semua akan belajar sedikit darinya,” kata Byron. “Dan aku yakin pria berikutnya mungkin gugup untuk keluar dari mobil.

“Tapi kita sudah melakukannya selama bertahun -tahun. Ini seperti jatuh dari tangga. Kamu melakukannya setiap hari, dan kemudian sesuatu terjadi. Kamu tidak bisa hidup dalam bungkus gelembung. Jadi itu hanya bagian dari kehidupan, kurasa.”

Ryan Preece telah memulai 212 balapan dan mencari kemenangan Piala pertamanya. Tidak ada yang akan menghentikannya dari merayakan kemenangan awal itu.

“Aku akan memanjat di atas,” kata Preece. “Dan aku berpotensi bahkan mungkin melakukan backflip. Tapi aku tidak berpikir backflip akan berjalan dengan baik.”

Pemenang balapan Sabtu malam di Richmond tidak ragu untuk berdiri di atas mobilnya. Austin Dillon berdiri di ambang jendela samping pengemudi keduanya di frontstretch setelah balapan maupun di Victory Lane.

Dillon mengatakan mereka memiliki anggota kru di mobil “untuk memastikan ini [window net] ada di dalam mobil sekarang jadi jaring jendela tidak membuat saya tersandung. “

Austin Cindric, salah satu pengemudi tertinggi di garasi cangkir, mengatakan untuknya, itu akan menjadi momen “pohon besar, jatuh keras”.

“Mungkin tidak akan menghentikan saya dari terlalu bersemangat ketika saya keluar dari mobil balap,” kata Cindric. “Jika kamu naik di atas, kurasa moral cerita di sana kamu mungkin juga berdiri di atap.”

Dan jika sesuatu terjadi, itu terjadi.

“Anda melakukan olahraga ini cukup lama, Anda pasti memiliki momen yang Anda harapkan dari Anda,” kata Keselowski. “Aku punya beberapa dari mereka. Dan Connor mendapatkan yang pertama.”

Bob Pockrass mencakup NASCAR dan IndyCar untuk Fox Sports. Dia telah menghabiskan beberapa dekade meliputi olahraga motor, termasuk lebih dari 30 Daytona 500-an, dengan tugas di ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene Magazine dan Jurnal Berita (Daytona Beach). Ikuti dia di Twitter @Bobpockrass.

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