Connor Zilisch Almost Took Out A Camera Guy Who Was On The Track During His Burnout After NASCAR Xfinity Series Win At WWT Raceway

Can we maybe not have cameramen on the track while there are cars flying around?

Connor Zilisch continued his absolutely insane run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series yesterday, winning his 8th race of the season and clinching the regular season championship with a win at World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway) in St. Louis. (He’s actually credited with 9 wins this season after Parker Kligerman got the win at Daytona when Zilisch got out of the car after the green flag due to injury).

The 19-year old phenom will be driving full time for Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series next season, but for now he’s focused on bringing an Xfinity Series championship to the #88 team for JR Motorsports. And after winning 6 of the last 7 races that he’s finished, Zilisch is getting pretty good at doing burnouts to celebrate a victory.

But after yesterday’s win, while Zilisch was burning it down on the start/finish line, a camera operator on the track likely saw their life flash before their eyes as Zilisch came dangerously close to taking them out when he spun towards the pit road wall.

Luckily the cameraman was able to get out of the way, but man, why are we sending camera operators out onto the track during burnouts anyway? I know you want to get the best shot you can, but it seems like the risk of having somebody running around on the track while a car’s spinning out isn’t worth whatever cool footage you can get.

And it seems like most NASCAR fans agree that it’s time for the sport to make a change before somebody gets seriously hurt:

You know what would solve that? Don’t put them on the track during victory celebrations.

— Josh (@raginOKCTHUNDER) September 7, 2025

It’s not the first time camera guys have gotten dangerously close to a burnout:

And of course Zilisch has faced his own dangers during his postrace celebrations. After his win at Watkins Glen last month, Zilisch took a tumble after climbing on top of his car in victory lane, suffering a broken collarbone and forcing him to exit the car early during the next race at Daytona.

Of course racing is an inherently dangerous sport, with guys racing around at 190 mph in 3,000 lb. machines. But it seems like with drone cameras and all the other technology we have available these days, there are better ways to get the shot than sending a human out onto the track to play chicken with an out of control race car.The post Connor Zilisch Almost Took Out A Camera Guy Who Was On The Track During His Burnout After NASCAR Xfinity Series Win At WWT Raceway first appeared on Whiskey Riff.