Stockcar
Connor Zilisch hasn’t yet begun his first full season in NASCAR, but the American driver is already rewriting the record book.
At just 18, Connor Zilisch recently experienced one of the biggest moments of his budding career to date – in September 2024 he made his debut in NASCAR's competitive Xfinity Series (if you're an F1 fan, think of Xfinity as NASCAR's F2 equivalent) at Watkins Glen International in New York State. However, getting to this point hasn't been easy; it took relentless hours in simulators, long sessions of gruelling endurance training and the wisdom of seasoned racing veterans
Zilisch was determined to return to The Glen with a vengeance after losing the 2023 ARCA Menards race (the level below Xfinity) to friend and former room-mate, Jesse Love. He intended to make his Xfinity coming-out party one for the ages.
01
Smashing that Xfinity debut
Prior to making a lap, Shane van Gisbergen, Zilisch’s Trackhouse Racing team-mate, and former F1 driver Scott Speed surprised the teen phenom with a Red Bull-designed Bell helmet: “It’s super special to me,” Zilisch said. “It’s cool that they surprised me. Having Red Bull on my helmet is not something I take lightly. I hope to make the most of it.”
Zilisch didn’t disappoint. In his third lap of Xfinity practice, he topped the speed chart for the session. In time trials, he won the pole. Zilisch was a second faster than his closest competitor in ARCA practice, more than a second faster in qualifying and led all but one lap en route to his fifth victory in his sixth start of 2024. That was just Day 1.
With the stakes – and the growing competition for Day 2, Zilisch became just the seventh NASCAR racer to win on his Xfinity debut and the first from the pole. He led 45 of 90 laps, recovered from a penalty that sent him to the rear of the field and extended his advantage to five seconds before the race ended under caution.
“Words can’t describe the feeling,” Zilisch said in Victory Lane. “I’ve put in a lot of work for this moment and have been preparing for this race for a long time. It feels good that it paid off. Just honoured to be here in this position with JR Motorsports.”
02
An unconventional route to success
Like most aspiring American racers, the North Carolina native came up through the karting ranks. Subsequently, his path diverged from the norm. Zilisch’s talent took him to Europe to compete against the top rising stars in motorsport from 33 different countries.
In 2017, at age 11, he won the Mini Rock World Championship in Italy. Zilisch backed up that accomplishment by winning the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy three years later. He was the first American racer to seize either title.
“The kid is good,” said F1 winner and CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya, whose son Sebastian raced against Zilisch and will make his F2 debut next year. “You see what he’s done. If he would have stayed in Europe, he probably would have had the progression to where Sebastian is.”
Traditionally, racers who choose the European path of training end up in open-wheel. Zilisch’s parents thought their son would attend college, but one year – and a pandemic later – Zilisch was at a crossroads. A chance meeting with Cup champion Kevin Harvick propelled him on the fast track to NASCAR.
“In 2020-2021, when NASCAR had no practice, no qualifying and they'd show up to the race on Sundays, I was team-mates with Keelan Harvick on a go-kart team,” Zilisch said. “It was the early stages of Keelan’s racing career. He was still figuring stuff out, and I was more of a proven go-kart driver, so I was coaching Keelan and helping him as a team-mate.
“I met Kevin (Harvick, 2014 Cup champion) through that. Kevin saw something in me and wanted to help me to at least have a shot at making it in racing. So he got me a test with the Trans Am TA2 team.”
03
Fulfilling his early potential
Zilisch set speed records and scored podium finishes in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition. He won rookie honours in the Spec Miata Class, then ventured into the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout competition, where he won a participation scholarship for the 2022 season.
Late in 2021, Zilisch won the pole at Virginia International Raceway in his Trans Am TA2 debut, earning a full-time ride with Silver Hare Racing the following year. He scored four MX-5 Cup victories, finished second in the standings and won 2022 rookie-of-the-year honours.
Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks had witnessed Zilisch’s promise in karts. He said the youngster “smoked ‘em” in Trans Am. Recognising the Chevrolet development driver’s potential, Marks recruited him.
“There are so many kids that have talent,” Marks said. “It’s like just going fast isn’t going to get it done any more. To me, it’s the rate of adaptability. How fast is he able to learn new situations with new cars and new tracks? His rate of adaptability is really what stands out with him.
“That’s really important in evaluating talent that can make it all the way to the top. He absorbs it. He understands the car. He understands the competition. He can learn quickly and push the button quickly.”
04
What makes Zilisch a 'generational talent'?
Though the term is overused in sports, Zilisch is indeed a generational talent. Kyle Larson, 32, last elevated the bar in American motorsports. Marks believes Zilisch’s natural ability to harness and deploy the talent to achieve instant results will place his protégé next in line.
Zilisch is certainly exemplifying Marks’s case. At each level of his progression, he's transcended the challenge. In 2024, he won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, five ARCA races, and a CARS Tour event, and now, he's added an Xfinity Series win to his resume.
Before the Watkins Glen victory, winning the LMP2 Class in the 24 Hours of Daytona topped Zilisch’s personal list of accomplishments due to the “prestige of the race.”
“It's such a cool event,” said Zilisch, who pulled off the feat at 17. “I've grown up watching it. I’ve been to that race as a fan before. I never thought I'd get the chance to even race in it, let alone go out and win on my first try.
“That's the only race that I've ever cried because of the result. That was a surreal moment for me.”