JR Motorsports' Connor Zilisch escaped with only a broken collarbone after falling hard from his No. 88 Chevrolet in victory lane while preparing to celebrate his victory after Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International.
He was put onto a stretcher, taken to the infield care center, and then taken to a local hospital, where CT scans were clear and indicated no head injury.
All things considered, the collarbone fracture being the only significant development here was a blessing, as the worst-case scenario was avoided from a total freak accident that absolutely nobody would have ever seen coming.
Now for the question everybody is asking: when is Connor Zilisch coming back?
Zilisch was supposed to compete in Sunday's Cup race at Watkins Glen with Trackhouse Racing, ahead of an expected full-time Cup announcement for 2026, but that obviously didn't happen.
No two injuries are alike. But generally speaking, most people recover from a broken collarbone in six to eight weeks.
And for whatever it's worth, children often recover quicker than that (three to four weeks); Zilisch only just turned 19.
In any event, as long as Zilisch does actually return in 2025, it's hard to see him not being granted a playoff waiver. And for that reason, you could argue that, if this injury was ever going to happen, it happened at the best possible time.
The Xfinity Series has off next week before three weekends in a row of races at Daytona International Speedway, Portland International Raceway, and World Wide Technology Raceway to close out the regular season. So the playoffs aren't scheduled to begin for another five weekends at Bristol Motor Speedway.
But even after the first playoff race at Bristol, the Xfinity Series has another weekend off before the next race at Kansas Speedway.
That race, from now, is just under seven weeks away.
Zilisch, who has already been granted one playoff waiver after missing the race at Texas Motor Speedway with a back injury, leads all drivers with 36 playoff points.
Only one other driver has more than eight, and even if the Charlotte, North Carolina native misses the rest of the regular season, he is poised to earn at least seven or eight more based on his points finish. He is the current points leader, and it's hard to see him falling more than maybe two or three spots, even if he's done for the regular season.
He could very well miss the first playoff race at Bristol and still enter Kansas well above the cut line, and that's if you assume a seven-week recovery.
Again, no two injuries are alike. We have no idea when Zilisch will be back. I'm sure he'd like to be back for Daytona, and let's be clear: he technically hasn't even been ruled out of that race yet.
But facts are facts: with the gap he has built up this year, he can literally afford to miss the next month and a half and still retain his status as clear-cut championship favorite if and when he returns. Maybe the playoffs aren't such a bad idea after all.