Connor Zilisch emulates $240M NBA Icon Steph Curry’s iconic celebration after winning the COTA Xfinity race

Connor Zilisch bagged his first win of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season at Circuit of the Americas. He commemorated the race victory with the iconic "Night, Night" celebration by four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry.

Zilisch is an 18-year-old NASCAR driver, piloting the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. His COTA celebration, popularized by the $240M-worth Stephen Curry (as per Celebrity Net Worth), signifies that the game is won and over.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post, the NASCAR Xfinity Series team shared a GIF of the youngster celebrating after completing the post-race burnout.

"Hit 'em with the Steph Curry night night, Connor 💤ilisch," the Xfinity Series X team wrote.

Connor Zilisch kicked off the COTA race weekend strong with a JR Motorsports front row lockout in the pole position alongside Ross Chastain. Zilisch won the race, whereas Chastain finished eighth.

During the race, Zilisch received an early penalty for pitting while the pit road was closed, which resulted in William Byron winning stage one. He failed to climb back to the front for points in stage two, giving Harrison Burton the win in the second stage.

The North Carolina native took the lead from JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil with 10 laps remaining. With Kvapil cutting a tire, the No. 88 driver built enough gap to comfortably cross the finish line first ahead of William Byron and Sam Mayer, respectively.

Zilisch will return to COTA on Sunday driving the No. 87 Red Bull Chevrolet Camaro for Trackhouse Racing. The event will mark his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series.

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"I made way too many mistakes": Connor Zilisch on COTA victory

Connor Zilisch opened up about his challenging race at Circuit of the Americas. The 18-year-old admitted making many mistakes on the track, which sent him to the back of the grid. He recovered throughout the 65-lap contest to secure his second Xfinity Series win.

The No. 88 JR Motorsports driver said (via NASCAR.com):

"That was way harder than I wanted it to be [...] I did not drive a clean race at all. I was kind of mentally fogged halfway through that race."

He added:

"I made way too many mistakes... I was glad we were able to fight back."

Connor Zilisch driving the No. 88 Chevy at COTA - Source: Imagn

The Focused Health 250 at COTA is undoubtedly the young driver's best race so far in his rookie season. He started the year with a 27th-place finish at Daytona before finishing 34th at Atlanta Motor Speedway.