Connor Zilisch Wins O’Reilly Thriller at Bristol

Connor Zilisch won a thrilling NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday. He prevailed from furious a late-race battle with Kyle Larson and Brent Crews in the No 1 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.

With 22 laps to go at the final restart of the race, the JR Motorsports Chevys of Zilisch and Larson lined up with Brent Crews’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. At first Crews surged to the lead, before a brush with the wall allowed Zilisch to skirt by him. Larson charged hard in the No. 88 Chevrolet, but Zilisch was able to hold him off.

“That was awesome,” Zilisch told The CW with a smile. “It’s been a tough past few 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.”

Connor Zilisch: Back on Top

Saturday marked the 12th win of Connor Zilisch’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career, following a scorching ten-win 2025 campaign. The 19-year-old was quickly promoted to the Cup Series this year, where he’s taken some time adjusting to NASCAR’s top competition level.

Crew chief Rodney Childers won his first ever O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race for the No. 1 team on Saturday. He’s spent time atop the pit box for both Zilisch and Carson Kvapil as the two young drivers split the 2026 season. Childers has 40 NASCAR Cup Series wins as a crew chief, mostly with Kevin Harvick for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Kyle Larson Comes Up Short

After sweeping the opening two stages of the race, Kyle Larson appeared nearly impossible to beat. It was only after late-race pit strategy shuffled the running order that Zilisch and Crews were able to give the defending Cup Series champion a run for his money.

“It was just a really good race,” Larson said. “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 throughout a run.”

Brent Crews Just Misses

If he’d been able to nab the win, Brent Crews would’ve become one of the youngest winners in the history of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. At 18 years and 12 days old, the North Carolina native raced as if the high banks of Bristol were nothing new to him. He walked away with a career-best third-place finish.

“What I feel like I did right was going up there and running the top really, really hard,” Crews recalled. “The parts that I’m not gonna be able to go to sleep tonight on is just going up there and getting a little loose and running into the fence a couple times.”

Justin Allgaier finished fourth, winning the $100,000 prize of the night’s Dash 4 Cash competition. Carson Kvapil rounded out the top five with a fifth-place finish.

Rolling with the Punches

Caution is out for @MasonMaggio1‘s No. 91. 💨 pic.twitter.com/eNwH4JH6Lm

— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) April 12, 2026

The first caution of the race flew on Lap 1, when Mason Maggio’s No. 91 Chevrolet spun on the backstretch. Things improved slowly for Maggio before his car went up in smoke and flames on Lap 195. Maggio scrambled out of the car, narrowly escaping the growing inferno in the Bristol garage.

Midway through the race, the No. 42 Young’s Motorsports team had to execute a driver change. After Logan Bearden reportedly began experiencing back pain, reserve driver Brad Perez climbed behind the wheel and drove to a 33rd-place finish. Perez had never run a NASCAR race at Bristol prior to Saturday night.

Points Outlook

Exiting Bristol, Justin Allgaier maintains a 130-point lead over second-place Sheldon Creed. Jesse Love dropped to third in the standings, 146 points back of Allgaier. Corey Day jumped up three spots in points and is now 166 points out of the lead. Carson Kvapil rounds out the top five.

Brent Crews was forced to miss four races to start the year that were scheduled before his 18th birthday. He ascended to 18th in the standings on Saturday, ahead of ten drivers who’ve made all nine starts. Crews is 75 points behind Taylor Gray, who holds the last of 12 spots in the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase.

Race Results