Red Bull star in HUGE crash during NASCAR debut

A star Red Bull driver's NASCAR Cup Series debut ended in disaster on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas, exiting the race in a massive crash.

The race at COTA was the third of the 2025 Cup Series season and the first at a road course, following a pair of drafting tracks at Daytona and Atlanta.

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18-year-old Red Bull athlete and Trackhouse Racing development driver Connor Zilisch started the weekend in style, qualifying on pole for Saturday's Xfinity Series race and taking his second career win after fighting back from a penalty.

He made his Cup Series debut the next day with the support of Red Bull, driving the Trackhouse #87 car, and had some impressive moments before his race was brought to an abrupt end.

The No. 99 goes around and collects @ConnorZilisch! pic.twitter.com/xwH575jTPe

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 2, 2025

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What happened to Connor Zilisch at COTA?

Zilisch looked set for a good points haul when he started the final stage of the race running in 14th, but got caught up in a big wreck on the first lap of the stage, started when Trackhouse team-mate Daniel Suarez spun in front of him.

Left with nowhere to go and unsighted by the huge cloud of smoke created by Suarez's spin, the teenager hit the #99 car at speed, damaging his car and spearing himself into the barriers to end both drivers' races.

Speaking after the race, Zilisch didn't seem too downhearted, saying: “We had a really fast Red Bull Chevrolet.“I’ve had so much fun preparing for this event. That second stage, driving from outside the top 30 to 14th, was a lot of fun. I was passing a lot of guys that I used to watch on TV growing up.

“Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to come back and do this again. I had an absolute blast driving through the field, and I wish it didn’t end early.”

He added: “It’s a really unfortunate way to end my Cup Series debut. We were one of the top five fastest cars in the second stage there. I went from outside the top 30 to 14th, and I felt really good about our Chevy. We made a lot of gains from practice and qualifying. It’s just an unfortunate way to end it.”

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