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Friday Faceoff: Who Was the Last NASCAR Prospect As Good As Connor Zilisch?

Who is Connor Zilisch the best NASCAR prospect since?

Mike Neff: That is an interesting question. There have been quite a few good prospects recently. Daniel Hemric had a good bit of success coming up. Austin Cindric won the Daytona 500 as a rookie. At this point, it is probably Chase Briscoe.

Wyatt Watson: Connor Zilisch is the best NASCAR prospect since Jeff Gordon. The quickness with which Zilisch has burst onto the stock car racing scene is truly special. With five wins in eight ARCA Menards Series starts, an impressive recovery drive in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of the Americas, a win in LMP2 at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, and a dominant win in his first race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Watkins Glen International to boot, the 18-year-old will continue to impress next year running full-time with JR Motorsports in 2025. At his blinding trajectory, Zilisch will be in the same breath as Gordon if he keeps this momentum up.

Amy Henderson: Zilisch is the best prospect since Kyle Busch. Busch was a winner in everything he drove, with wins in all three NASCAR national series before he turned 21. Zilisch, who just turned 18, could very well match a feat that most drivers never accomplish, let alone before they’re old enough to celebrate with champagne in victory lane. Of course, Zilisch still needs to prove himself against veterans on multiple types of tracks and across multiple series. Right now, he’s exactly what the title suggests: a prospect. But he’s on a path to be one of the most exciting youngsters to enter the sport in recent years.

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James Krause: He’s the best prospect in NASCAR since Ty Gibbs. That may not be too far in the past, but I see a ton of parallels between the duo. Both drivers were winners in their first season in ARCA, both were winners in their first Xfinity Series race and they’re the two youngest winners on road courses in Xfinity history. While he hasn’t found the same immediate success in the NASCAR Cup Series yet, Gibbs found a way into the playoffs in just his second full-time season. If someone told Zilisch that he’ll be competing for the Cup title at 21, he’d probably be pretty happy with that.

Kevin Nix: Kyle Larson and Gordon. He’s the first prospect since Larson to win seemingly everywhere he goes and in everything he drives. The learning curve hasn’t yet hit Zilisch either, as he has shown very little weakness in his limited starts. While it will certainly get more difficult for Zilisch the higher he advances through NASCAR’s ranks, there’s also a certain four-time champion who was able to boast the same thing when he blitzed his way to Cup. I imagine that Gordon is seeing much of himself in the young prodigy.

Phil Allaway: Hard to say. Never really seen anyone quite like him. I’ve seen some of the Gordon answers, but Gordon went more than a full year before he won a race in Xfinity. He’s probably better than anyone I’ve ever seen who came into NASCAR from outside of the traditional route at his age. In a stock car, his skill set and early success are probably closest to Gibbs, but they are completely different drivers.

What will Carson Hocevar accomplish next year in the Cup Series?

Henderson: Carson Hocevar will be interesting to watch. Spire Motorsports’ cars have shown some big improvement this year but haven’t shown they have what it takes to be consistent top-15 finishers yet. Hocevar has a pretty impressive 18.1 average finish this year, above his 20.8 average start. Finishing better than he starts is a good look for a driver, and especially one in mid-tier (at best) equipment. If Hocevar can improve his finish by just a bit next year, a top-20 points finish is realistic. In general, a 17-17.5 average should be plenty to secure a top-20 finish, and Hocevar is close.

Watson: A good goal for Hocevar and the Spire No. 77 would be to finish in the top 20 in points next season. With his performance this season, Hocevar can absolutely make that happen. He impressed at Watkins Glen with a career-best finish of third, increasing his lead over Josh Berry for Rookie of the Year by 45 points. And if you take the playoffs out of the picture and rescind his 25-point penalty, Hocevar would be 20th in points by 20 points over Todd Gilliland. Instead, Hocevar sits 22nd in points, five points behind Gilliland for 21st and 98 points behind Busch in 20th. With the progress Spire has shown with Hocevar and the No. 77, it would be no surprise to see Hocevar compete for more wins in 2025.

Nix: He could be a fringe playoff contender on points if he continues improving. His third-place run at The Glen last week was his best career showing, and he has multiple top-10 finishes on speed this year. Having Michael McDowell as someone to lean on in 2025 will only benefit Hocevar as well. If he cleans up his act when it comes to on-track contact, the points could start coming in bunches.

Allaway: While there is the possibility of a sophomore swoon for Hocevar, Spire should be better in 2025. He could be fairly close to playoff contention (he’s 22nd right now). I could see it improving to 18th. Winning might be a stretch, though. Regardless, he’ll have better teammates (McDowell and whoever ends up driving the No. 7) to bounce ideas off of.

Krause: Hocevar will be more consistent and very well might wind up in the mix for a playoff spot. With how chaotic some races in Cup can be, Hocevar might even win his way into the playoffs. He’s got five top 10s this season, and with the likes of McDowell and crew chief Rodney Childers joining the team, his development will continue to come in huge waves.

Neff: Hocevar has shown some flashes of ability to win this year. Next season he should score a Cup win and potentially make it to the second round of the playoffs.

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Will the rumored addition of Ty Norris be beneficial for Kaulig Racing?

Nix: It certainly couldn’t hurt. Kaulig is doing what it needs to do, which is try anything and everything to find more speed in its racecars. Norris has a good track record, both at Trackhouse Racing and other organizations like Michael Waltrip Racing. If Kaulig gives Norris the bandwidth to make changes how he sees fit, improvement can slowly but surely come.

Watson: Norris has been a key piece to helping NASCAR teams build sponsorship dollars and succeed since the 2000s and his days with Dale Earnhardt Inc. Norris played a key role in helping build Trackhouse into what it is today, and Kaulig reportedly adding him to its team is a very beneficial move for the team as it searches to add sponsorship for its two-car team.

Allaway: I think it will, but you probably won’t physically see the changes that will come out of this. The changes that you’ll see at Kaulig from this move will be behind the scenes. You’ll have better work being done at the shop and better development.

Neff: Norris was an accomplished team executive with DEI. His ability at MWR to calculate the playoff scenarios from the spotters’ stand with just a SprintVision was simply astounding. If he can utilize his people skills with Kaulig, he will make the organization better.

Henderson: Norris brings a veteran knowledge of the racing business to a team, and for a still relatively new Cup Series organization, that’s a bonus. He’s helped improve the teams he’s worked for. From a day-to-day business standpoint, Norris will help stabilize revenue and bring value to sponsors. He’s made a few questionable decisions directly managing the competition side (though after decades in the sport, who hasn’t?), but he’ll help the team get to the next level.

Which four Cup Series drivers will miss the Round of 12?

Watson: First, Harrison Burton is a surefire elimination. Burton sits 20 points behind the cutoff, and Wood Brothers Racing has consistently been fighting for top 20s at non-drafting tracks. Burton will be more worried about managing his tires at Bristol Motor Speedway rather than making the next round of the playoffs in his position. Enjoy 16th in points rather than the sub-30s. Next, unless he puts on a dominating performance, Martin Truex Jr. will be the second elimination in the Round of 16. Truex looked promising at WGI at the start, but being involved in one of the many cautions at the end of the race eliminated much hope that he will be able to make enough ground up at Bristol to move on.

Brad Keselowski falls into the same dilemma as Denny Hamlin. Without a win or an incredible performance, Keselowski won’t make up ground on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Hamlin or Gibbs, and he would need one of the playoff drivers to fall into major trouble early. Which in that in mind, one driver who fell into major trouble in the spring will find trouble again at the half-mile oval, and that’s William Byron. Hamlin will win the race, and good performances by Briscoe and Gibbs will eliminate the 2023 Championship 4 driver from the playoffs. Why? Because NASCAR playoffs, that’s why.

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Henderson: Burton will need a win to move on, and that would take a heck of a performance from a driver with just one Bristol finish higher than 28th. Truex has also struggled at Bristol with an average finish of 20.2, and the fight seems to have gone out of him in his final season. While they both enter the week below the cut line, Keselowski and Hamlin have multiple Bristol wins (only Busch has more than either of them), which gives them an edge over Briscoe and Gibbs. Briscoe has been hot lately and will put up a fight, though. Gibbs has been solid at Bristol, too, with top 10s in two of three finishes when mechanical problems didn’t bite him, but Hamlin will edge him out. The fourth eliminated will either be Briscoe or Keselowski.

Nix: The current bottom three of Keselowski, Truex and Burton will all get knocked out. Hamlin will advance to the Round of 12; he won at Bristol in the Spring on this same tire, and the track is being prepped the same way it was in March as well. Those two factors both go heavily in his favor, so expect him to contend for the win. Briscoe will replace Hamlin on the outside looking in, but it will be very close. I expect the margin between 12th and 13th in points to be fewer than five points.

Allaway: Burton will miss, along with Truex, who appears to have checked out as Tom Bowles stated on Wednesday. Gibbs ran well in the spring, but will likely miss along with Keselowski.

Neff: The four who will miss are Truex, Burton, Keselowski and Gibbs. Briscoe is going to have a great race and battle Hamlin for the win. Both of them will advance.

Krause: Truex and Burton feel like they’ll continue to be non-factors at Bristol, so they’ll be out. The other two will be two drivers who enter above the cut line, Briscoe and Gibbs. While they’re both OK at Bristol, it’s just hard to bet against the duo of Hamlin and Keselowski below the cut line. Hamlin has led more laps at Bristol than anyone over the last four races, and RFK Racing has just one finish outside the top 10 in its last six entries.

About the author

Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.

Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.

Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime

Kevin Nix has been with Frontstretch since February 2023. Hailing from Gilbert, Arizona, his dream is to be in the NASCAR media sphere full-time. He is a video assistant, working on the back end to streamline video and audio quality of all at-track interviews. Nix also writes about news every Monday for the site.

Nix graduated with a Master's Degree in Sports Journalism from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona. He also has bachelor's degrees in Communications and Political Science. In his downtime, he likes to read, play video games and take walks in the Arizona weather - when it's not too hot.

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with of football, music, anime and video games.

What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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Wow Watson is already giving the win to Hamlin lol let’s see if he’s as smart as he thinks he is. Maybe Denny’s car will blow an engine the first lap.