“My spotter is on vacation”: Jeb Burton speaks out after tense incident with Connor Zilisch at Rockingham
Jeb Burton pointed out several factors that led to his late-race incident with Connor Zilisch at Rockingham Speedway, including the absence of his original spotter. His backup spotter didn't warn him about the young driver trying to make a pass.
With three laps remaining, Burton, driver of the #27 Chevrolet Camaro for Jordan Anderson Racing, approached turn one between Brennan Poole and Connor Zilisch in a three-wide. Zilisch ran out of room and spun out of the top 10 before the caution was thrown.
After 256 laps of racing at The Rock, Jeb Burton finished in eighth place, while Connor Zilisch settled for 13th. He apologized to the #88 JR Motorsports driver before speaking out on the incident with NASCAR Insider Noah Lewis on X (formerly Twitter).
"I had no idea he (Connor Zilisch) was inside of me. My spotter's on vacation this week, and I have a great backup spotter. But he didn't call it, and the #44 (Brennan Poole) ran out of fuel going into the straightaway," Burton said. [at the start of video]
"I had somebody up there. We split the #41 (Sam Mayer) through the tri-oval, and the spotter didn't call it. Right when I committed to go down to the bottom, I looked into my mirror, and he was there," he added.
The 32-year-old was gutted to take out Zilisch, whom he described as someone with a ton of talent, saying:
"I told him it's my fault. I got mirrors in my racecar, you don't suppose to just rely on a spotter. But what caught me off guard... was the #41 [...] I don't want to race like that. The boy's got a ton of talent and a fast racecar." [0:32]
The North Carolina Education Lottery 250 was won by Sammy Smith following a post-race disqualification of Jesse Love. He was trailed by Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton's cousin, Harrison.
In addition, the race saw familiar faces from the stock car racing scene, including former Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne. JJ Yeley also qualified for the race but was replaced by Katherine Legge last minute in the #53 Chevrolet.
Connor Zilisch shared an update with the disqualified Jesse Love at Rockingham
After NASCAR disqualified Jesse Love for failing the post-race inspection, Connor Zilisch advanced from 14th to a 13th-place finish. He poked fun at the Richard Childress Racing driver with a social media update of them posing for a picture.
The 18-year-old North Carolina native wrote on X:
"P13 and P38."
The race officials took Love's first-place finish away after finding issues with the #2 Chevrolet's rear suspension. It would've been his second victory of the 2025 season following his win in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Connor Zilisch, meanwhile, is now on a two-week streak of finishing outside the top 10. His last top-10 finish was a sixth place at Darlington Raceway. So far, the youngster has amassed one top-five (win at Circuit of the Americas) and three top-10s. Moreover, he bagged three pole positions (COTA, Martinsville, and Rockingham).