Since making his ARCA Menards Series debut last August at Watkins Glen International as a relative unknown, Connor Zilisch has had a meteoric rise to becoming one of NASCAR’s most talented up-and-coming drivers.
Zilisch has been under the watchful eye of Justin Marks and industry veteran Ty Norris, who signed the Mooresville, North Carolina native to a multi-year driver development deal for NASCAR Cup Series team Trackhouse Racing in January.
That development plan has allowed Zilisch to broaden his motorsports horizons this season, being placed in several series part-time, including the CARS Tour, ARCA, IMSA, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and NASCAR Xfinity Series, all of which present individual challenges and require individual preparation.
“It takes a lot [of work] and it’s harder for me this year because I’m racing in so many different types of cars, and so many disciplines,” Zilisch said on Above The Yellow Line. “As a racecar driver you want to be able to put all your focus into one series, and put all your eggs in one basket, and I can’t do that this year as much as I want to.”
“I still feel like I do a good job doing what I can with the time that I have, but it’s hard when you’re bouncing back and forth in so many series and you have to kind of adjust to every car you’re driving. But, still so much prep work, especially for all the NASCAR races I do, the amount of preparation I get. The sim time, everything I get that’s involved with those is much different.”
But, despite a general lack of experience on all fronts (tracks, cars, etc.) the preparation has been paying off, as the results have been nothing short of jaw-dropping, with triumphs in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring, plus four victories in seven starts across the ARCA Menards Series platform.
In his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in March, Zilisch won the pole with a track-record-setting lap and finished top-five after having to drive through the field multiple times.
Now, before he even gets the chance to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut (scheduled for Watkins Glen), Zilisch has signed a full-time deal for 2025 in the second-tier series, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for championship-winning team JR Motorsports.
“The prestige of the No. 88 in NASCAR and the shoes that I’m ready to fill, it’s a big task,” said Zilisch. “I won’t lie, there’s pressure and there are expectations for me, as well, and expectations I’m going to have to try and live up to, but at the end of the day I’m racing for myself, I want to go out and compete and fulfill my own goals and make sure I’m moving in the right direction, getting better every race and try to do what I need to do to be the best racecar driver I can be.”
Having just turned 18, Zilisch can now run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and venture onto tracks larger than 1.25 miles in length in the NASCAR Craftsman Series and ARCA Menards Series.
The real grind is just getting started for Zilisch, though, who beginning with Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series event at Richmond will run at least 15 events across the Xfinity Series, Truck Series, and ARCA Menards Series in the next 14 weeks, ending with double duty at Phoenix Raceway in November.
With the bulk of his 2025 NASCAR plans signed, sealed, and officially announced, Zilisch says while the early announcement helps Trackhouse Racing sell sponsorship for his effort next season, it also alleviates some of the pressure to perform in his scheduled starts to end the year.
“I think I’m the first NASCAR driver in Xfinity to announce a full-time ride for next year, which is cool because it’s nice to have that security and I know what I’m doing next year, no matter how I run in the races this year,” said Zilisch. “It’s good for a racecar driver to have that and that will allow me to go out in these four races that I’m doing with JR Motorsports and perform at my own pace and not feel rushed to go out and try to win the race, so it’s all beneficial to me.”
As he did in Trucks and ARCA, Zilisch will be making his Xfinity Series debut on the road course of Watkins Glen International, the same circuit in which the 18-year-old driver dominated his ARCA debut last season, only to finish second to Jesse Love. He’ll then return to the No. 88 at Kansas, Homestead, and Phoenix.
Coupled with five NASCAR Truck Series events with Spire Motorsports and six additional ARCA Menards Series events with Pinnacle Racing Group, Zilisch is destined to have a busy couple of months at the racetrack.
While thrashing to absorb as much information as possible in that short timeframe, Zilisch has a solid stable of teammates to rap with, including a pair of NASCAR champions, a Supercars legend, and a multi-time winner in each of NASCAR’s National Series. It’s a unique resource available to him, due to the versatility of Trackhouse Racing’s driver lineup.
“It’s been super valuable for me, just because I’m teammates with all the drivers at Trackhouse with Zane [Smith], Shane [Van Gisbergen], Ross [Chastain], and Daniel [Suarez]. I can bounce ideas off all of them, and they’re super open to helping me. Which is cool because some guys at the highest level may not make time for a kid racing in ARCA or Trucks, but they make sure they do, and that’s something I can appreciate and be thankful for.”
“There’s a lot of guys that I lean on, and outside of Trackhouse as well, for advice and that’s really important to ask the people who know and have been through the things you’re going to go through, what mistakes they made, and what you can learn from it.”
Zilisch will attempt to join the likes of Chase Elliott (2014), William Byron (2017), and Tyler Reddick (2018) as NASCAR Xfinity Series champions for JR Motorsports, as he begins his first full-time NASCAR campaign next February at Daytona in the No. 88.
In the meantime, it’s all about learning for Connor Zilisch… and if along the way, he happens to continue filling up his trophy case, then more power to him. After all, there is still an ARCA Menards Series East championship trophy to hoist.
