Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Connor Zilisch is having a terrible rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series. On Sunday (July 5) at Chicagoland Speedway, Zilisch hit rock bottom: he didn’t complete a single lap in the eero 400.
Zilisch spun on the first lap following contact with Ryan Preece after Preece was caught in a chain reaction caused by John Hunter Nemechek bouncing off the wall. The No. 88 was destroyed… and, in the process, so was Zilisch.
“I’m sorry guys… I can’t get anything to go for me,” Zilisch told his crew on the radio. The race marked his seventh DNF of the year just 19 races into the season, the most in that stretch since 2020, when both Preece and Timmy Hill matched it. Six of those have been for crashes. In the last seven races, Zilisch has been running at the finish just twice. Among full-time drivers, only Cody Ware has a lower average finish than Zilisch’s 27.5.
To put those stats into perspective, a man who won 10 NASCAR O’Reilly Series races last season now has more DNFs in Cup than Danica Patrick had in her entire rookie year.
There are memes by the dozens about his struggles.
But here’s the thing: Zilisch is having a terrible year. Zilisch the driver isn’t terrible.
By any standard, he should have won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series title to wrap up that 10-win season. That he didn’t is much more of a condemnation of NASCAR’s playoff system than of Zilisch. He raced injured after breaking his collarbone, which had to be incredibly painful. He just kept winning.
Following up on that performance, Zilisch has two wins and seven top 10s in nine races running the O’Reilly Series this year.
It would be easy to say that Zilisch has topped out with NOAPS competition, to proclaim that he’s not good enough to be competitive in Cup. It would be easy, but it also would not be true.
With his success last year, it’s easy to forget that Zilisch is just 19 years old. He turns 20 later this month. A lot of kids his age are still trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Zilisch is not only doing it, he’s doing it at the highest levels, and he’s successful against people who have been doing it for decades.
That doesn’t mean he hasn’t earned some scrutiny with his struggles in Cup this year; he has. But he also hasn’t earned the ridicule. Zilisch is a kid, folks. He’s not in the Cup Series because his dad owns the team or the sponsor. He’s there because someone saw his raw talent.
The worry is that that someone, namely Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks, put him in the Cup seat too soon. That’s not something new, but it is something that has derailed careers. Remember Casey Atwood? Once branded the young face of Dodge’s new Cup program in 2001, at age 20, he was out of their flagship ride within a year, confidence destroyed and never again in position to be a rising star.
Heck, the man Zilisch replaced at Trackhouse, Daniel Suarez, can tell you a thing or two about being rushed into a Cup seat before he was ready. Suarez was put in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 at least a year ahead of schedule when Carl Edwards suddenly retired in 2017. He simply wasn’t quite ready, even coming off a NOAPS title, and JGR wasn’t willing to give him three or four years to really develop.
Suarez then went to Stewart-Haas Racing at a time when the team was also a little behind, and never really got a toehold. He finally found some success at Trackhouse and is having a career year at Spire Motorsports.
But could he have been even better with a year or two extra in NOAPS? That’s a very real question…and Suarez was 25 in his first full Cup Season.
So, can Zilisch overcome his slow start in Cup?
Absolutely, but it will take time and patience from Trackhouse, if he stays there, or from whatever team he does land with long-term.
It might take some changes—given that teammate Ross Chastain is also struggling this year and Shane van Gisbergen isn’t as strong on ovals as he is on road courses, despite his tenuous hold on a Chase berth. Maybe a shakeup among crews at Trackhouse wouldn’t be a terrible idea. In particular, swaps between the Nos. 1 and 88 might help both cars out.
But really, what Zilisch needs is time. He can’t have this year back to stay the course in NOAPS and try to win a title there. He can only move forward, and for a 19-year-old who has ridden a physical and emotional rollercoaster all year, he has maintained a mature, positive attitude.
And we all know what he’s capable of.
Besides, so many of Zilisch’s on-track woes have not been his fault. Sure, running in the back of the pack increases the chances of getting caught up in someone else’s mess, but Zilisch isn’t causing crashes every week. He’s also been the victim of pit calls that just didn’t work out.
What Zilisch needs most is a completely uneventful summer. He needs to log laps and learn how the car changes on long green-flag runs and how to keep up with the track in longer Cup events. He can’t get that from behind the wall. He could really use the confidence boost of a couple of top 10s, but even top 15s would serve him well at this point.
Baby steps.
Zilisch is capable of competing at the Cup level. As long as his team gives him the chance to be a kid who’s still learning, he’s going to be OK. Zilisch will put together a string of complete races, then lead-lap finishes, then top 15s, then top 10s. Eventually, he’ll be running in the front half of the field on a more regular basis.
If he isn’t afforded the time to develop and the grace to make mistakes, though, he could also wind up on the path of Atwood and plenty of others who never quite lived up to their potential.
So, maybe lay off the memes making fun of a 19-year-old.
Maybe a few changes are in order in the Trackhouse stable among crews, or maybe all Zilisch really needs is a little positive momentum to turn luck his way. For as terrible as his rookie season has been in the first half, Zilisch is a far better driver then the results show.
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.
Such absolute BS, a new low for Frontstretch. “By any standard, he should have won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series title…” You somehow don’t know NASCAR has actual rules. He did not and should not have won the championship because by the rules he was not the champion. He is a loudmouth entitled little rich kid who LOVES to trash talk other drivers while he is busy crashing or taking out other drivers. No worries though daddy will keep BUYING him rides. He was a hero in O’Reilly because he had incredibly dominate cars. Now that he is driving average cars, he looks like a clown. He’s the Sting Ray Robb of NASCAR, the biggest ride buyer in Indy Car.
Nah man, this article is accurate with meaningful insights. To state that he is a loudmouth that trash talks tells me you either don’t really follow nascar or you are a blatant liar. He’s a generational talent on a learning curve with a team that does not have top 20 speed.
Wow, Alex, dunno where you’re getting that. The article even says he doesn’t have his father buying his ride, like some other guys.
I agree with T. Zilisch is just snake-bit. I can’t believe his bad luck. I hope he and his team sticks it out and keeps going, despite all these set backs.