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Connor Zilisch Holds Off Kyle Larson To Win At Bristol Motor Speedway On Old Tires

by Hunter Thomas April 12, 2026 0 comments

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Connor Zilisch, on old tires, held off Kyle Larson to win the Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

Larson had absolutely dominated the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race until the closing laps. With just 10 laps to go, Zilisch, who started on the pole, made his way around Brent Crews to take over the lead. The two drivers had been battling each other for a while, and it was Larson who was waiting to pounce. Crew hit the wall with seven laps to go, and Larson moved into the second position until he hit the wall with three laps remaining. The mistakes by both drivers sealed the deal for Zilisch to capture his 12^th series victory.

 “Yeah man, that was awesome,” Zilisch said. “It has been a tough past two weeks for me in the Cup Series, and it feels good to come back down here into the O’Reilly Series and remember that I can still do it.

“It’s tough. You finish in the back every week, and you forget who you are, but this feels good. We played strategy. Rodney (Childres, crew chief) made a great call to keep us out. The tires weren’t wearing much all night, and we were able to get our Roto-Rooter Chevrolet in the track position that I needed to go out and win the race. It was really cool to be able to race against Kyle and learn from him. He’s so talented and such a fast race car driver.”

Larson held on to finish second in the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. He swept Stages 1 and 2 and led a race high of 230 of 300 laps; however, at the end of the race, he was stuck behind Zilisch and Crews who were running both, the low and high grooves.

“When you run as long as we did, it’s hard to stay out,” Larson said. “I was split. I’m sure he was as well. If I stay out, then who knows how many people pit behind me. Everybody might pit, and then it looks potentially different. Worse than second potentially. I don’t know, it was just a really good race. My car was great. I felt like my balance was better throughout a run compared to last year – similar in a  lot of ways, but better from start-to-finish of a run.”

Crews finished third, and rounding out the top-five was JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil. Completing the top-10 was Sheldon Creed, polesitter William Sawalich, Corey Day, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray.

There were 13 lead changes among seven drivers.

The caution came out eight times for 59 laps. The red flag was displayed for 3 minutes 5 seconds on Lap 196 due to Mason Maggio’s car that burst into flames in the infield.

Allgaier continues to lead the standings. He has a 130-point lead over Creed.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will visit Kansas Speedway on Saturday, April 18, for the Kansas Lottery 300. Live coverage will broadcast on the CW Network at 7 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com