Why Connor Zilisch's injury will continue an unfortunate trend next

On Wednesday it was announced that the driver of the Nascar Xfinity series, Connor Zilisch, will miss the race on Saturday (May 3) on the Texas Motor Speedway on April 26 in Talladega Superspeedway.

After the contact of Jesse Love, Zil fell hard against the inner wall, whereby Zilisch's No. 88 established a strong contact with the safer barrier, which was dramatically moving due to impact power.

In the short term, Zilisch's injury is very unhappy. While the 18-year-old is kept the playoff authorization, a rookie driver who loses 300 miles is never a good thing. There is also one racing less to collect points while trying to set up for the off -season.

However, the long -term effects could be Groundhog Day-Esque.

There seems to be no injury in Nascar, apart from a concussion or another head problem that is more harmful than a back injury.

In 2013, Denny Hamlin suffered a compression fracture after a malignant crash in the last round of the Auto Club 400 in the Nascar Cup series. Hamlin had to sit four races after the injury and slipped from 10 to 31 in points over the four-race route when he was not in the car.

Nevertheless, Hamlin had 27 races in 2013 when he returned to number 11 in Talladega. Even if he could not qualify for the playoffs, he should at least be in the top 20 or 15 top 15 again.

But that never happened. Apart from consecutive top five efforts in the southern 500 and Coca-Cola 600 shortly after his return, Hamlin never looked at the majority of the year 2013 and finally took the 23rd place in the overall ranking. A victory in the season finale on the Homestead Miami Speedway was encouraging, but on the whole, in 2013, a lost season for a driver in his heyday was.

Despite the injury, Hamlin recovered to a large scale in 2014 and became one of the four drivers who can compete in the first championship 4.

A decade later, Alex Bowman was in a position similar to Hamlin after broke a vertebrae in a sprint car accident in April 2023.

Bowman had put down a penalty from the points of the points, but Team No. 48 still shot at all cylinders until Bowman was injured. When Bowman returned to the car after four races for the Coca-Cola 600, the entire speed disappeared. He won for the first time since 2018 and missed the playoffs for the first time in his term at Hendrick Motorsports and took 20th place in points. Like Hamlin's 2013 season, 2023 was essentially a campaign for Bowman.

While Bowman did not jump back with the same bang that Hamlin did, he returned to the Victory Lane on the Chicago Street Course and first qualified for the 8th round before being disqualified on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

The best news for Zilisch from the point of view of the competition is that the XFinity series after Texas will not run for three weeks. If it returns on May 24th, it is not known whether Zil is healthy enough to compete with each other.

Whenever Zil returns to No. 88, it is important that fans keep an eye on its performance. Bowman and Hamlin demonstrated the fact that back injuries make it difficult for drivers to diagnose their cars, which could be the main reason for a performance shortening shortly after maintaining a back injury.

This is an unfortunate problem for Cup drivers. But for a young view in his first year of the XFINITY Series campaign, it is a problem that could have far-reaching effects on the future. Zil will be in the field of 2025 XFinity, but its extent of competitiveness could now be threatened by mitigating circumstances. This could also be his planned start in the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25th.

The good news? Hamlin and Bowman's injuries and subsequent bad campaigns have a lot better seasons the following year. A look at the next season may not be smart for a young driver like Zil, but the previous experiences of his future cup colleagues should be a sign that there will be brighter days – that is, when Nascars sees the best view at all.