18-year-old Connor Zilisch is destined to have a long, successful career in the NASCAR Cup Series. You can just sense it every time he gets behind the wheel. The teenager carries himself like a calculated veteran in interviews and on the racetrack. And on Saturday night, in a wild Quaker State 400 filled with chaos, Zilisch allowed himself to gain experience in the Next Gen car, while also scoring the best finish of his three career NASCAR Cup Series starts.
After a 24-car melee at the start of Stage 2, which Zilisch found himself part of, the youngster was able to keep his wits about him, and in the end, he crossed the finish line in the 11th position. Zilisch was thrilled with his performance as he felt like he kept getting closer and closer to figuring things out as the race rolled along.
“Yeah, it was great. We had a little bit of damage there. I don’t think it made enough of a difference to really kill us. But I was definitely feeling it there at the end. I was pretty tight. Just struggling to get runs on guys through the corner. I was having to check up a little more than must, but still, a great day. Thank you to Trackhouse and Red Bull. I know it takes a lot to run a fourth car, and we learned a lot throughout the day. I got better each Stage, and there at the end, I felt pretty comfortable making more aggressive moves,” Zilisch explained.
While he scored a solid finish, Zilisch is fully aware that a lot of that could be attributed to the massive rash of attrition in the form of The Big One, which sent many cars to the garage area on Saturday night. Still, the young phenom feels he accomplished all of his preset goals heading into the Quaker State 400.
“The Trackhouse cars have really been on the up, and today was a lot of attrition, honestly. I wasn’t an 11th-place car. I definitely ran better than I should’ve, but that’s part of these races. These races are really long, and sometimes you just gotta make it to the end of them,” Zilisch stated. “I was glad to see the checkered flag; that was my goal for today. We made it, and made it in good fashion, and got a decent finish out of it. I checked all of my boxes, and if you told me I was going to finish 11th this morning, I’d be ecstatic.”
As he gained drafting experience at the NASCAR Cup Series level, Zilisch didn’t have much help from others in the field. But he didn’t expect much help as he’s the new guy on the block, and young racers have to build trust in order to gain drafting partners at the superspeedways. Zilisch hopes he was able to gain some valuable respect on the track on Saturday night at EchoPark Speedway.
“It’s just going to take time. I get it. I’m young and new to this, and they haven’t raced with me. They don’t trust me enough to push me. And that’s been the same everywhere I’ve gone, every series I’ve raced,” Zilisch said. “I was just trying my best to be as respectful out there as I could be and leave people space. And you know, I want to build that respect. So, I’m trying not to be too nice, and make everybody think I’m a scaredy cat, but at the same time, I don’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers.”
I don’t think anyone would accuse Zilisch, who already has three NASCAR Xfinity Series wins and three NASCAR Cup Series starts at the age of 18, of being scared of much. But the driver says Saturday night’s race was absolutely insane, and it had him on the edge of his racing seat throughout the 400.4 miles.
“Oh, 100%,” Zilisch immediately answered when asked if Saturday night’s race was the craziest he’s ever been involved in. “Runs were just forming everywhere. Our cars were on edge the whole time. Yeah, it was wild. I was death-gripping the steering wheel for 260 laps, and I’m going to sleep well tonight. Glad I was able to make it to the end without doing anything too stupid.”
Now, the 18-year-old, who is in the midst of a battle for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, will shift his focus to his next NASCAR Cup Series start, which will come at Watkins Glen International, a road course which is something much more within his comfort zone than the wild superspeedway racing that took place on Saturday night in Hampton, GA.
“Looking forward to Watkins Glen,” Zilisch smiled. “That’s going to be a racetrack right up my alley.”
Expect Zilisch to have a chance to be in the conversation for a top-10, or better, in his fourth career NASCAR Cup Series start.
