Denny Hamlin Sparks Controversy Over Connor Zilisch’s Win in Portland

NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin has sparked a controversy over Connor Zilisch’s Xfinity Series race win at Portland International Speedway. The 19-year-old driver, who recently secured a full-time Cup seat for the 2026 season, had to drive through the A-frame penalty area at Turn 1 after an overtime restart.

Zilisch led the 78-lap race for 70 laps, but the crowded race restart pushed Zilisch to prefer the penalty area. This move caught the attention of Hamlin, who stated that Zilisch did not make an effort to execute Turn 1 and took the easy route to win the race, while several cars made contact behind him. Revealing his views on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained:

“It was very controversial in the way he won it. I guess the uproar is that they feel he didn’t even attempt to make the first corner. He had it in his mind the entire time that I’m just going to blow this, run that chicane and see where I net out.

“That does two things for him. One, it’s really not that big of a time loss. Two, it would be well, now I’m gonna avoid the corner where the incidents happen the most often. You take yourself out of the opportunity of getting wrecked.”

Related: NASCAR’s Connor Zilisch Gets Trolled by His Father After ‘Embarrassing’ Fall

Hamlin then clarified that he was not questioning Zilisch’s efforts but was pointing the finger at NASCAR. He added:

“Is there any doubt that the best car won? No. Or the best driver won? No. That’s just not good sport. Not on Connor’s part, I’m talking about on the sport. You gotta do better than that.

“These chicanes have been exposed for a few years now, and you haven’t figured out a way to actually make them penalize you when you miss the track? Just poor planning. Poor lots of stuff.”

Addressing the incident, Zilisch said that the move wasn’t a planned one but more of a last-minute reaction. He said:

“It’s kind of funny, I ran it in practice, and I was like, ‘it’s not even that slow. As soon as I hit the brakes, I wheel-hopped, but kind of committed to it as soon as I realized I wasn’t going to make the corner. And it worked out. I wasn’t really planning on it, but last resort, you’ve gotta do what you gotta do.”

Related: NASCAR to Adopt Preventive Action After Connor Zilisch’s Watkins Glen Fall