Young racer loses title by racing too conservatively

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A 15-year-old driver gave away his first professional racing championship by racing too conservatively in the title-deciding finale.

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Connor Zilisch, who is managed by NASCAR star Kevin Harvick, believed he was in position Friday to wrap up the Mazda MX-5 Cup

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title and even allowed another driver to pass him on the last lap — a decision that cost him 10 points. Because of where rival Jared

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Thomas was running, Zilisch's team told him he didn't need to push and was fine where he was in the running order. But when a

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post-race penalty changed the finishing order, Thomas was moved up a spot in the standings and picked

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up another 10 points — enough to snatch the championship from Zilisch.

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“I can only see what’s in front of me and they were telling me on the radio that Jared was out of the race, and to just bring it home

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and I would win the championship," Zilisch said. “So I did that, and on the last lap I pointed another driver by as they were going for

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the win and I didn’t want to get wrecked. I gave the spot up, and Jared ended up getting enough spots to jump me on the last lap. Super unfortunate.”

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