By Den Gelston
Feeling pretty good on a Saturday night, Connor Zilisch acted like so many teenagers when he slammed an energy drink on a table and started scrolling through his phone.
Then Zilisch interrupted his session with the media because he had to take a call.
“From Dale,” he said.
Yeah, Dale Earnhardt Jr. the Hall of Fame driver who now fields a ride for Zilisch in NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series.
That Zilisch could have been scrolling the rest of the night through congratulatory texts and highlights — and perhaps taking more calls from famous names — is what separates him from any other teenager. The 18-year-old next big thing is a NASCAR race winner.
Zilisch raced to victory in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, saving enough fuel in a wreck-marred finish to allow the teen sensation to take the first of what many in the industry expect to be a career full of checkered flags on Saturday at Watkins
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