Connor Zilisch ruled out for Xfinity Series race at Texas due to lower back injury

Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will not compete in this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway after a hard wreck on the final lap last week at Talladega Superspeedway.

JR Motorsports released the following statement Wednesday afternoon: “Kyle Larson will sub for Connor Zilisch behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway as Zilisch continues to recover from a lower back injury sustained last weekend at Talladega.”

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Leading last Saturday‘s race at Talladega on the final lap, Zilisch got turned down the backstretch after a push from Jesse Love, spinning hard into the inside wall nose first.

The impact was enormous, as pictured above, but Zilisch exited the car under his own power before getting evaluated and released from the infield care center. He gave a post-race interview on The CW after being cleared, saying “I’m OK. … Very grateful to drive safe JR Motorsports race cars.”

RELATED: Texas schedule | Xfinity standings | Zilisch driver page

Zilisch has a win at Circuit of The Americas and three top 10s in his rookie season, and he is sixth in driver points. His average running position (10.8) is fifth best in the series through 11 races.

Saturday‘s Andy‘s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas is set for 2 p.m. ET (The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).