Top prospect Connor Zilisch taking it all in stride ahead of Cup oval debut

Bob Pockrass

FOX Motorsports Insider

Connor Zilisch describes his rookie Xfinity season as one of “growing pains,” and that has nothing to do with his recent back injury.

The 18-year-old Zilisch was seventh in the standings before dropping to 12th after missing the last race at Texas following a hard crash at Talladega. His win at Circuit of the Americas in March has him comfortably in the playoffs, so Zilisch has already accomplished one of the goals.

But, frankly, more eyes could be on Zilisch in the Coca-Cola 600 as he makes his Cup oval debut this Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Zilisch finished 37th after a crash about midway through his series debut at COTA, a day after winning the Xfinity race.

Zilisch, who honed his road-racing skills in Europe, has been touted as a top Cup prospect the last few years and is under contract with Trackhouse Racing while also having a personal services deal with Red Bull. How he performs in the select Cup races this year, as well as in Xfinity, could determine if he moves to Cup in 2026 or whether he stays in Xfinity for another season.

“I’m having so much fun competing for wins every week here,” Zilisch said about racing for JR Motorsports in Xfinity. “It’s been a blast.

“And I try not to look too far into the future. I want to enjoy every race like it’s my last, and I’m just trying to make the most of this season with the goal of winning a championship. I know if I do everything I need to do, that long-term I’ll be where I want to be.”

While he has had the speed each week, even at tracks he has never raced previously, Zilisch feels he’s not doing everything correctly to get the results worthy of the cars he’s driving.

“It’s just been an up-and-down year,” Zilisch said. “But throughout it all, my team and I, we’ve been getting better every week and understanding what I need out of the car every week and how to go through a race without making mistakes.

“I’ve definitely done things that have hindered myself points-wise. I could have had a lot of better finishes. I have wrecked on all three superspeedway races. I finished 28th at Martinsville with the fastest car. Overall, looking back on it, I feel like we’ve done a really good job. But I feel like there are things that I can clean up.”

Many believe Zilisch has the whole package — great talent, grounded mindset and an engaging personality. Kevin Harvick saw Zilisch race at a young age and helped him land a few stock-car rides in order to get a NASCAR career in his grasp.

Zilisch has won five ARCA regional series wins, five ARCA national series races and two Xfinity wins, including in his debut race last year at Watkins Glen. He also has a class win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Despite the two Xfinity wins, Zilisch said the “growing pains” in the series include that he can’t come back from mistakes as easily as in other series.

“I feel like you make one mistake and it ends your day,” Zilisch said. “I’ve never had that before in the racing I’ve done. … Learning to minimize mistakes has been probably the toughest part for me, and understanding that one mistake can end your day.”

The other thing Zilisch has learned is not to overthink his race and strategy.

“I feel like coming into the year, I was so worried about how complicated the races were going to be, and going to new tracks and pit road and everything — and, honestly, the less I’ve tried to think about it, the better I’ve been,” he said.

The mistakes have increased chatter on social channels that Zilisch might not live up to the hype. As an 18-year-old who grew up with social media, Zilisch is used to the seeing comments about his performance.

Those comments, though, likely have been more critical as the Zilisch hype has increased over the last year.

“I don’t let it get to me,” Zilisch said. “If nobody was watching, I’d still race the same. It’s just about going out there every weekend and preparing for every race the same, working with my team to do the best job we can do every weekend.

“At times it does get tough to deal with the noise around and getting tagged on Twitter posts and whatever it may be. … I feel like I’ve done a good job of just doing my deal and not really letting the outside noise affect me, good or bad.”

That’s good because he has 400 laps in a Cup car ahead and everyone will be watching.

“It’s going to be tough,” Zilisch said. “I don’t expect to go and run well, … but if I’m going to run in the Cup Series one day, I’ve got to be able to run those races. And there’s no better way to get experience than trial by fire.

“It’s a long race that you can struggle the first half, and then you still have a full Xfinity race in the second half to come back from. There’s a lot of time in that race. I feel like it’ll be good for me to just get those reps, get the laps, and the more laps in that car, the better. That’s part of the reason, is they just want to get me laps in the car, since we can’t go testing. And what better way to do that than 400 laps at Charlotte?”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.