Connor Zilisch is a wheelman.
At 17 years old, the Mooresville, North Carolina native is on the pole for his first-ever start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, blowing away the field in Friday’s time trial session at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.
When qualifying began, Zilisch had made less than 10 laps around the 3.41-mile road course, but still managed to obliterate the NASCAR Truck Series field in both rounds of qualifying, with no driver coming within seven-tenths of a second in either round.
A development driver for Trackhouse Racing, Zilisch was able to outdo one of the series’ strongest drivers, Corey Heim, by posting a time of 131.983 seconds (93.012mph), a new track record at the Austin, Texas road course.
Heim was second quickest in the final round of qualifying but posted a lap 0.714 seconds slower than the 2024 Rolex 24 and 12 Hours of Sebring winner, but still managed to have a three-tenth of a second gap over his teammate Taylor Gray, who was third fastest.
Nick Sanchez earned a fourth-place starting spot, while NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain completed the top-five for Niece Motorsports. Jack Hawksworth, Tanner Gray, Layne Riggs, Christian Eckes, and Ty Majeski round out the top-10.
Zilisch, who will not only be running the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Circuit of The Americas, but also the ARCA Menards Series East event in Pensacola, Florida on Saturday, becomes the seventh driver in series history to win pole on debut.
Scoring the pole for Saturday's #XPEL225 at @NASCARatCOTA, @ConnorZilisch becomes the seventh driver to score the pole in their NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut.
Nick Sanchez (Daytona, 2023) was the last driver to accomplish this.#NASCAR https://t.co/dHDZJBeZLL
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) March 22, 2024
Other notable drivers starting outside the top-10 for Saturday’s 225-mile contest include Rajah Caruth (11th), Tyler Ankrum (12th), Grant Enfinger (13th), Ty Dillon (20th), Matt Crafton (24th), Jake Garcia (28th).
Carter Fartuch (30th) and Vicente Salas (32nd) will also make their NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debuts in Saturday’s event, driving for Reaume Brothers Racing and Young’s Motorsports, respectively.
Ben Rhodes and Thad Moffitt were the only two drivers that failed to post a lap in qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at COTA, but will start the race from 33rd and 35th, as they both participated in Group B.
Zilisch will look to make history in Saturday’s event at Circuit of The Americas, a track that he’s gotten the hang of, after making a grand total of nine laps.
