When race winner Connor Zilisch slipped and fell head first after the August 9 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Wakins Glen International, he didn’t become the only driver to make a memorable post-race moment.
He may be the latest, but certainly not the first.
From guitar smashes to soiling a fire suit to passing out and, in one case, a Victory Lane Gate in the Winner’s Circle have already been etched into the “No Way That Just Happened” category of NASCAR.
Guitar Smash Didn’t Rock at Nashville
In 2009, Kyle Busch drove to his fourth NXS win of the season and first at Nashville Superspeedway. Upon exiting the car, he was awarded a Les Paul guitar with a one-of-a-kind design created by renowned NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Instead of holding the $25,000 custom guitar up high to show off, he went around to the front of his Joe Gibbs Racing car and smashed it to the ground several times as it broke into pieces.
People were stunned, especially Bass and track announcer Joe Williams. So much so Williams refused to interview Busch after what he just witnessed.
“Most of us took that as a middle finger,” Williams said. “He didn’t mean it that way. Nobody knew that in the moment.
“He had this funny look when he got it in his hand, It’s Kyle Busch; you expect something different. When he got it, he raised it about his head. I thought, ‘Surely not.'”
Busch said he did it in rock n’ roll fashion, meant no disrespect and his goal was to give each of his teammates a part of that trophy.
Soiled Suit Forces Delayed Victory Lane
In 2004, three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart claimed victory at Watkins Glen. During the race, he reported to his JGR team he was not feeling well with an upset stomach. At one point, they had road course ace Boris Said on standby to relieve Stewart.
Stewart decided to relieve himself, in the car and in his orange and white fire suit. Upon entering Victory Lane, he exited the car and was quickly covered up with towels, escorted to his golf cart and whisked away to his motorhome.
Upon a clean up and change of clothes, Stewart returned to fulfill his post-race duties.
“Physically, I felt good in the car as far as my strength went,” he said. “I was just going through these stomach cramps. They’d get bad for a while and then they’d subside for a while. As soon as we took the checkered flag and slowed down, they came again. I’m glad it was over when it was over.”
Victory Lane Gate Controversy
During the 2000 and 2001 seasons, drivers would frequently climb on top of their cars in Victory Lane and celebrate by jumping up and down on the roof with excitement.
NASCAR didn’t think the same.
So, they devised a PVC gate held up by officials and placed between the driver and car as they exited the window. After much, and we’re talking A LOT, of complaining by teams the Victory Lane Gate was shown the door for good.
Rudd Overcome by Heat Exhaustion in Martinsville
The 1998 NAPA 500 at Martinsville Speedway was run under extremely hot conditions with temperatures in the mid 90’s. Ricky Rudd knew he had a great race car that September day.
One small problem plagued him around lap five, the cooling system in his car quit working. For the next 495 circuits around tight confines of the half-mile oval, Rudd toughed it out for the win.
Afterwards, he laid prone in Victory Lane taking oxygen with bags of ice on him while Jerry Punch of ESPN TV conducted an interview.
“These guys gave me a heck of a car,” Rudd said between breaths with the mask. “I knew I was in trouble from Lap 5 and it was really hot in the car. I’m going to have blisters on my butt, my back and pretty much everywhere.”
Rich Bickle finished a career-high fourth that day and had quite the opposite post-race reaction.
“Give me a set of brakes and beer,” he said, “I’ll go run 500 more.”
Connor Zilisch’s NASCAR Mishap Was Just Latest Drama on Victory Lane