Eighteen-year-old Connor Zilisch makes his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut this weekend at Watkins Glen and already some of the sport’s top drivers are marveling at the teenager’s ability.
“His future’s bright and he’s got a lot ahead of him,” two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch says.
“He’s really good … he’s got his head on straight and he seems very mature,” former Cup champion Kyle Larson says. “I think, for sure, he’ll be a Cup Series guy someday.”
“He looks like a superstar,” says AJ Allmendinger.
Such attention for a driver with only two NASCAR starts in the Truck Series is rare — even in this era of hype — but Zilisch is unlike most.
What the Trackhouse Racing development driver has achieved this year is more than what some accomplish in a lifetime. Consider:
— Zilisch was one of the drivers on the winning LMP2 team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
— He drove his team’s LMPS 2 car to the checkered flag to win at Sebring in March.
— A week later, Zilisch won the pole by nearly three quarters of a second at Circuit of the Americas in his Truck debut.
— He won his first four ARCA starts, including victories at Dover, Iowa and Michigan.
“Everything he drives in, he wins in,” Allmendinger said. “I really do think this weekend he’s going to be super tough in the Xfinity car at Watkins Glen. There’s no reason he won’t be up front.”
Zilisch makes his series debut in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. He’ll drive full-time for the team next season.
While it seems Zilisch was destined for NASCAR — he grew up in Charlotte near most teams — Zilisch’s focus as a youth was on Formula One and racing there.
When he was 11, he went to Italy to race go-karts, going only with a mechanic while his family stayed behind. Zilisch celebrated his 12th birthday overseas. He estimated he spent 12 months in Europe racing go-karts between the ages of 11 and 14.
Jim Zilisch said he never felt nervousness about his youngest son being gone for stretches at a time in Europe because he had seen him adapt well to change. Jim Zilisch recalls Connor getting approval at age 6 to go to a summer camp in Asheville, North Carolina, with his two older brothers. Connor returned home with an award for being a camper of the summer.
It wasn’t surprising that his son was honored even at a young age in such a way.
“He has more drive than most people, especially at a young age, which is, I think, partly why he got as good as he did,” his father, Jim, told NBC Sports.
While karting didn’t lead to F1, it did lead to NASCAR. Zilisch was a teammate to Keelan Harvick and it was Kevin Harvick who suggested to Jim Zilisch that he steer his son toward stock cars.
Zilisch ran his first oval race June 2022, a month ahead of his 16th birthday but well after when most NASCAR drivers begin running ovals.
He won his first four ARCA starts this season before finishing second to William Sawalich, a highly touted 17-year-old, at Milwaukee last month.
“You don’t just show up and win, I guess, almost all of your starts at this point,” Larson said of one of the things that’s impressed him about Zilisch.
Even with his road course experience, Zilisch is still learning. Take, for instance, the COTA race this year.
After blitzing the field in qualifying — only four drivers were within two seconds of his pole-winning lap — Zilisch smoked his tires entering the first corner of the first lap of the race and had to pit, falling to the rear of the field.
“I go into Turn 1 and and make a mistake because a guy’s on my inside and I’m trying to keep the lead,” Zilisch said. “I didn’t really think about it at the time how long of a race it was, but if I would have just done that and kind of fell back to third or fourth, I think I could have come back and won the race. Instead I went back to the tail and had to work back and work really hard to finish fourth.”
While one can learn from successes, most lessons are learned when things don’t go as well. Such was the case for Zilisch that day.
“I think it would have been an embarrassment had I not come back and finished fourth,” he said. “One thing I kind of go back to, is if you would have told me on Wednesday before that race I would have finished fourth, then I would have been like ‘Sweet. Perfect. I’ll take that.’
“I had to remind myself after the race and remember how well that I rebounded from it and be proud of that. I have a lot of races ahead of me and I’m going to have a lot more road courses to go back out there and have a lot of speed and, hopefully, win more races in the future.”
Zilisch will face more challenges as he moves up to a higher level and more competition. That also means more expectations.
Busch understands what it’s like to be a young driver moving through the ranks and facing high expectations. Of course, social media wasn’t as prevalent 20 years ago when Busch won five Xfinity races as a 19-year-old rookie.
“I feel as though when I was coming up … there were some added expectations,” Busch said. “I didn’t feel like I really lived up to many of those expectations my first few years, over-trying and overcompensating and crashing and whatnot. Then I was able to finally find my niche, my way of getting good finishes and that was about 2007.
“ … His future is bright and he’s got a lot of ahead of him. It’s just a matter of trying to harness all of that and, of course, manage expectations of yourself and not over trying.”
2. Same deal for all
Car owner Rick Hendrick said that should 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports get any additional concessions from NASCAR with the charter agreement, all teams should receive the same benefits.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were the only teams not to sign the charter agreement by NASCAR’s deadline last week.
23XI Racing stated that it did not sign the agreement because “we did not have an opportunity to fairly bargain for a new Charter contract.”
Hendrick explained why he signed the agreement with NASCAR, which will keep the charter system in place from 2025-31:
“I think we worked really hard for two years and it got down to you’re not going to make everybody happy,” Hendrick said this week. “I think it got down to I was just tired. I think we got enough to protect the charters and not everybody was happy.
“Any negotiation, you’re not going to get everything you want, but I felt like it was a fair deal and we protected the charters, which was No. 1. We got the (revenue) increase. I think a lot of the things we didn’t like, we got taken out, so I’m happy with where we were.”
It’s unclear what’s next for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports since they didn’t sign by the deadline.
“The majority of the teams felt like we got … as much as we could and it’s time to move on and good luck to them,” Hendrick said of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
If either team gets anything else from NASCAR, Hendrick said he’s sure all teams will get the same benefit.
“I think NASCAR … if they change anything for those two teams, that will go across the board, I’m pretty sure of that,” Hendrick said. “That would be the right thing to do. If the teams sign at the deadline and then they make another deal a little bit better somewhere, I think it would be wrong if everybody didn’t participate.”
3. Big weekend ahead
Chicago Street Race winner Alex Bowman has scored the most points on road courses this season, but Watkins Glen has been a challenge for him.
Bowman has scored 115 points on road courses this season. Tyler Reddick is next at 110 points and Ryan Blaney is third with 100 points. They are the only drivers to score more than 85 points in three road course events this year.
Bowman enters Sunday’s race sixth in the playoff standings — 27 points above the bubble — after his fifth-place finish at Atlanta to open the first round.
That finish was significant because Bowman has never finished better than 14th in seven Cup starts at Watkins Glen. He’s never started better than 10th there in Cup.
“Watkins Glen, I’ve spent a month in the simulator at this point just trying to be better,” Bowman said after his Atlanta finish. “I feel like I’m pretty good at the rest of the road courses, and the Glen just hasn’t been a place that’s really clicked for me. Trying to figure that out and be better.”
4. Sitting on the bubble
Ty Gibbs said holding the final transfer spot with two races left in the opening round of the playoffs isn’t stressful. Truthfully, he says, it doesn’t compare to the most stress he’s felt.
“I think the most stressful I’ve been in my life was racing bicycles,” Gibbs said of what he did as a youth. “It was so competitive. I think that was more stressful than anything I’ve ever done. … I think that just shows you when you’re younger you’re just focused on like that one event that controls everything.”
As for sitting on the playoff bubble, Gibbs isn’t worried. He said he’s looking forward to the next two races, Watkins Glen and Bristol.
Gibbs ranks sixth among playoff drivers in points scored on road courses this year and placed fifth in last year’s race at Watkins Glen. Looking ahead to Bristol, he won both stages and finished ninth there in the spring.
The four drivers out of a playoff spot entering Watkins Glen are Brad Keselowski (-1 point behind Gibbs), Harrison Burton (-16), Martin Truex Jr. (-19) and Chase Briscoe (-21).
5. Numbers to know
6 — Average finish by Christopher Bell at Watkins Glen in three Cup starts. That is best among active drivers and ranks second all-time at the track, trailing only the 5.8 average finish Scott Pruett had there in five Cup starts.
8 — Consecutive races won by different drivers entering Watkins Glen. They are: Alex Bowman (Chicago Street Race), Ryan Blaney (Pocono), Kyle Larson (Indianapolis), Austin Dillon (Richmond), Tyler Reddick (Michigan), Harrison Burton (Daytona), Chase Briscoe (Darlington) and Joey Logano (Atlanta).
12 — Top 10s by Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick at road courses in the Next Gen car. That ranks first in the series.
88 — Percent of drivers in a playoff spot after the first race of the opening round since 2017 who advance to the second round.