- Connor Zilisch, driving for JR Motorsports, qualified on the pole for the second consecutive season in the Focused Health 250.
- Shane van Gisbergen takes second position to give JR Motorsports a front-row sweep.
AUSTIN, Texas (Feb. 27, 2026) – Connor Zilisch opened his double-duty NASCAR at COTA weekend in fashion by winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole position during qualifying Friday for the Focused Health 250 at Circuit of The Americas.
Zilisch, a NASCAR Cup Series rookie with Trackhouse Racing, returned to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this weekend for JR Motorsports and secured the pole for the second consecutive season for the organization. His lap of 88.398 miles per hour (97.740 seconds) on the 17-turn, 2.4 mile National Course allowed him to edge his Trackhouse Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen, who also is running the event for JR Motorsports, by .209 of a second (88.209 mph/97.949 secs).
Zilisch will lead the 38-car field to the green flag for Saturday’s 65-lap Focused Health 250 beginning at 2 p.m. CT (TV: CW, Radio: PRN, SiriusXM). The pole was his first of the season and 10th of his career.
Zilisch led a qualifying parade of JR Motorsports drivers, with the organization claiming three of the top five positions and four of the top 10, with Justin Allgaier qualifying fifth (87.661 mph, 98.562 secs.) and Sammy Smith 10th (87.394 mph, 98.863 secs.).
Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing and Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing broke up the JR Motorsports dominance by qualifying third and fourth, respectively. Hill, who won from the pole at the season-opening race in Daytona, secured a second-row position with a lap of 87.841 mph (98.359 secs.). Jones followed with a season-best qualifying effort with his lap of 87.762 mph (98.448 secs.).
In IMSA action, Wyatt Brichacek (#30 Ligier JS P325M) took the pole position in the P3 class with a lap of 1 minute, 28.856 seconds. Oscar Tunjo (#1 Duqueine D08) qualified second at 1:29.433 and Austin’s own Danny Soufi (#11 Duqueine) was third at 1:29.835. Westin Workman (#8 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EV02) was the top GSX qualifier at 10th overall with a lap of 1:39.034.
Up Next: In addition to the Focused Health 250 on Saturday, the NASCAR Cup Series will take to the National Course with practice at 9 a.m. and qualifying at 10:10 a.m. The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge will close out its weekend with a pair of 45-minute timed races, the first at 11:30 a.m. and finale at 5:30 p.m.
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