Teen sensation Connor Zilisch is the most hyped NASCAR rookie since possibly Jeff Gordon
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — As sleet pelted Bowman Gray Stadium during NASCAR’s preseason warm-up race, multiple drivers complained about poor visibility and the wet track conditions.
One of them — the youngest driver in the field — hit the button on his radio and grumbled it was time to get back to racing no matter the conditions.
“We’re professional race car drivers — it’s our job to go figure it out,” 19-year-old Connor Zilisch radioed to his team.
The teenager is the most hyped rookie to the elite Sprint Cup Series in decades. There was Kyle Busch in 2003, who had already been promoted by his Hall of Fame brother, Kurt, who famously said “if you think I’m good, wait until you see my brother.” Busch had been ready to go for two years, but a rule was passed that raised the minimum age to compete at the top level to 18, and he was forced to wait — which only built the anticipation.
Joey Logano followed in 2008 hyped by Hall of Famer Mark Martin’s praise that the Connecticut youngster was “the best thing since sliced bread.” Like Busch, he also had to wait until he was 18 to debut.
And now comes Zilisch with expectations that some believe exceed Busch and Logano.
“I would have to say Jeff Gordon, honestly,” AJ Allmendinger said of the four-time NASCAR champion who was 20 in his first Cup Series season in 1992. “There was Joey and the whole ‘Sliced Bread’ thing, but I think straight-up hype? Connor is the deal and has already delivered. He’s jumping in everything and performing at very high levels.”
Zilisch will make his Daytona 500 debut on Feb. 15 — four years after attending the race for the very first time. He was fairly new to racing at the time, had very few connections, and sat in the grandstands with tickets as a regular fan as Austin Cindric won as a rookie.
“I think it’s very cool that people think that highly of me, when you are getting compared to Kyle Busch and Joey Logano there’s nothing to complain about, they have five Cup championships between them,” Zilisch told The Associated Press. “If I can have a career half as good as either of them, I think that would be a successful career. But I’ve got a lot of time to get to their level, I mean, four years ago I was in the grandstands for the Daytona 500 and to think I’m now going to be in the race is just crazy.”
Not as crazy as it may seem considering the resume of the Charlotte native, who recently earned the internet nickname “Connor Connor Zilisch Zilisch” as a play on the moniker given to fellow Charlottean and New England Patriots quarterback Drake “Drake Maye” Maye. The idea is that the athletes are so elite, their given name needs no other moniker.
Zilisch started go-karting five or six years ago and flirted briefly with pursuing a career racing in Europe. That dedication has given him a maturity far behind his years that Justin Marks, owner of Trackhouse Racing, recognized immediately as he set a path to get Zilisch to the Cup Series.
In two years of racing sports cars and various NASCAR series, he’s won at almost every level. In 2024 he was part of the class-winning team that scored back-to-back victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and then the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the next year returned to the Rolex as teammates with Australian V8 Super Cars champions Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen.
McLaughlin is now an IndyCar winner for Team Penske and van Gisbergen, who made NASCAR’s playoffs as a rookie last year, will be Zilisch’s teammate at Trackhouse this year.
“He’s just very mature, but there’s definitely times when you talk to him and you realize, ‘Oh yeah, you’re 18.’ Like, he’s young, but when he’s on track, he’s very smart and understands how to go about it in a respectful way,” McLaughlin said. “He’s got raw speed, he’s got no fear because he’s young, but at the same time, dudes like that are very temperamental.
“You hope a guy like that has the right environment, and it looks like a good environment for him with Trackhouse.”
Zilisch won a series-high 10 races last year in NASCAR’s second-tier national series but was denied the title in the winner-take-all finale when Jesse Love beat him head-to-head. That format has been scrapped for 2026 but Zilisch said after mourning the title loss for a week or so, he’s moved on and accepted Love has a trophy that he never will.
The focus is fully on 2026, which is in full swing already. He was part of the second-place finishing team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the car owned by NASCAR chairman Jim France, and although he wound up 18th in The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, he raced up front at times and was one of the few drivers pushing to get the race going in wet conditions.
He’ll race this season as teammates to van Gisbergen — and he and the New Zealander should be next to unbeatable on road courses — as well as Ross Chastain, who is eager to help the teen. Zilisch replaced Daniel Suarez in the Trackhouse lineup.
“I want Connor to succeed. If he succeeds, it’s good for me,” Chastain said. “If I can’t win, a Trackhouse win is really good. Definitely want that for Connor, want that for me and want that for Shane. I’m the one clapping the loudest when they’re winning. I want to be right there competing with them and winning races.”
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