Trackhouse Racing development driver Connor Zilisch will race the No. 88 car full-time for JR Motorsports next season in the Xfinity Series.
“We are incredibly excited about that,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said of the announcement on the Dale Jr. Download episode that debuted Wednesday.
Justin Marks, co-owner of Trackhouse Racing, said on the podcast that Zilisch represents the company’s future.
“It started (with) Trackhouse having really the discussion a year ago or a year and a half ago in thinking about the trajectory of our Cup team in the future, the three-year plan, the five-year plan and recognizing we need to start making the investments and decisions to try to control some of our destiny, find opportunities for the future,” Marks said on the Dale Jr. Download.
“That conversation quickly went to drivers. We need to find somebody young to get into the system that we can help develop and give great opportunities for, with the goal of having a Cup championship contender in our car in the future. That was about the time Connor started to make a lot of noise. Everybody was starting to learn the name and pay attention to him. … As more and more time went by, it really became clear there was something special there.
“There’s a lot of talent coming up in the stock car ranks right now, there’s a lot of speed. I think really the differentiator when you’re trying to think of long-term vision and think what’s going to be successful years down the road is a lot of stuff around the speed. It’s maturity, authenticity, a great story, a great work ethic, drive and all that. Connor demonstrated really quickly that a lot of those boxes were checked. At the end of the day he’s a winner.”
Zilisch, who turned 18 in July, will make his Xfinity debut Sept. 14 for JRM in the No. 88 car. He’s also scheduled to drive the car at Kansas (Sept. 28), Homestead (Oct. 26) and Phoenix (Nov. 9).
The highly touted Zilisch was on the winning LMP2 class in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in February. That made him the second-youngest driver ever to win that race.
His year also has included:
— A second win in the LMP2 class this season. That came in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
— Winning the pole in his Truck debut at Circuit of the Americas in March.
— Three ARCA Menards Series wins (in three starts). He has won at Dover, Iowa and Indianapolis Raceway Park.
— Winning four of his six starts in the ARCA Menards Series East division, scoring victories at Dover, Flat Rock Speedway, Iowa and Indianapolis Raceway Park.
— He won a zMAX CARS Tour Late Model race in April at Hickory (North Carolina) Motor Speedway.
Zilisch is entered in Saturday’s Truck race at Richmond Raceway. He’s scheduled to drive the No. 7 for Spire Motorsports. That is one of five Truck races he will compete in this season for Spire. The others are Bristol (Sept. 19), Talladega (Oct. 4), Homestead (Oct. 27) and Martinsville (Nov. 1).