Connor Zilisch won his 12th career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race and his first on a short track on Saturday night (April 11) by winning the Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Driving the No. 1 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, Zilisch did it by holding off Kyle Larson, who swept both stages and led 230 laps of the 300-lap event.
“This feels good, we played strategy, Rodney (Childers) made a great call to keep us out,” Zilisch told The CW on the frontstretch. “Really cool to be able to race against Kyle (Larson) and learn from him. He’s so talented and such a fast race car driver.”
Larson finished runner-up in the No. 88 JR Motorsports entry while Brent Crews finished third, a career best for the young Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Justin Allgaier, the Dash 4 Cash winner, and Carson Kvapil, driving the No. 9 JRM car, completed the top five.
Sheldon Creed, polesitter William Sawalich, Corey Day, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray rounded out the top 10.
Larson decided to pit from the lead after a caution came out with around 30 laps to go. Zilisch, Crews and Day were the only three to stay out, and Larson was not able to get back to the lead when the checkered flag waved.
“When you run as long as we did, it’s hard to stay out,” Larson told The CW on pit road. “I was split, I’m sure (Zilisch) was as well. If I stay out, who knows how many people pit behind me? Everybody might pit and then it looks worse than second, potentially.”
Allgaier extended his lead in the driver standings to 130 points over Creed, who passed Jesse Love for second.
NOAPS Bristol Results
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will return to action for the 10th race of the season on Saturday, April 18, at Kansas Speedway at 7 p.m. ET. Coverage of this race will be broadcast on The CW.
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.