Randall Burnett will join Trackhouse Racing in 2026 as the NASCAR Cup Series crew chief for Connor Zilisch, the team announced Sept. 23.
Burnett has been the NASCAR Cup Series crew chief for the No. 8 owned by Richard Childress Racing since 2020. He was paired with Tyler Reddick when Reddick drove the No. 8 from 2020 to 2022. The pair also won the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship together.
Most recently, Burnett has been Kyle Busch‘s crew chief on the No. 8. Busch has two top fives and eight top 10s this season.
Zilisch is moving up to the Cup Series for his rookie season in 2026, replacing Daniel Suarez. A car number for his maiden full-time season has not been announced.
In 2025 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Zilisch has nine wins, 16 top fives and 18 top 10s while driving for JR Motorsports.
Logan Kendall joined the Frontstretch team in 2025 as the Tuesday news writer and eventually branched out into assisting with Frontstretch's social media and video team operations as well. Outside of motorsports, he has an interest in history, meteorology, and government.
Telling hire. Clearly Trackhouse feels the lack of performance for the 8 car this year is not due to Burnett. Though I’m not a KyBu fan, he’s shown he can drive a car at an elite level, even if he may have lost a tiny bit of his edge over the years. This does not reflect well upon RCR.
LOL, Did Connor have a say in this? Burnett has sucked for many years.