2025 has kicked off as a big year for Dale Earnhardt Jr. First JR Motorsports made its Cup Series Debut at Daytona 500. Justin Allgaier ended up in P9. And in the Xfinity Series, he’s got two rookies in their first full seasons…and they are already making Junior proud. After impressing everyone in Late Models, Carson Kvapil is set on his NASCAR journey. He kicked off his campaign with a P4 at Daytona and now after Circuit of the Americas he’s already looking like a frontrunner for 2025.

And what surprised many is that he went toe-to-toe with JRM’s prodigy Connor Zilisch. We knew Zilisch was always in contention for the win it being road course. Who can forget how he dominated his Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen last season? But you’d expect him to get tough competition from maybe a Ross Chastain (he’s got a 4.0 average finish on COTA) or William Byron (Cup Series’ last winner at COTA). But no one expected it from someone running their first road course race in NASCAR!

Can Carson Kvapil be JRM’s next big driver?

After the P4 at Daytona, it was another Superspeedway race…Atlanta! And Kvapil continued great form there as well…finishing top 5 in stage one. In stage two he dropped back but again climbed up to the top 5 in the final stage. Eventually, after a few wrecks and cautions, he was pushed back in the field and he ended P23. And that’s exactly where he also eventually ended up in the COTA. But not before he made things tough for Connor Zilisch.

Those final few laps had everyone, including Dale Earnhardt Jr, biting their nails. Look at Junior’s X post after the race, “Very proud of [Connor Zilisch] and [Mardy Lindley] and the [JR Motorsports] team. That battle with Carson made me nauseous. Gonna be a fun but very stressful year!” As the two JRM drivers exchanged leads, Kvapil pushed his right front tire a little too much. It got locked too many times, and it finally ended up going flat. That was the end of a battle that could have been a photo finish for JRM. But Kvapil had to pit and Zilisch took his first win of the season.

And naturally, Kvapil was disappointed. After the race, he said, “I mean I felt a little slided there. It seemed every corner we keep blasting out of the way. I mean it is what it is. All these guys are super aggressive at this level. But at the same time what the heck man. Definitely gonna put that in the back pocket and remember that for next time. Same time we are all going for the win and doing our best.”

But the 21-year-old rookie comes packed with maturity. He was quick to move on. And Kvapil actually ran the track last year in the Trans Am 2 series. But that was the old layout and the Xfinity car is a whole different beast. So even Kvapil was impressed with his own performance at the race. “I ran here last year. It obviously wasn’t the same course it was the full course. So little bit different but at the same time got myself some good laps. This Xfinity car’s honestly quite different…but at the same time the track’s characteristics carried over. It felt really good for not being a road course guy at all. Just had pretty good reps coming into it the guys back at the shop… really prepared us,” He added.

And while we laud Kvapil…what a run that was from Zilisch: from pole to the checkered flag. More so, he’s doing double duty with the COTA Cup Series race being next on his schedule.

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Connor Zilisch is set to make Cup Series history!

The Cup Series is where the NASCAR prodigy is eventually going to end up. But before he does…he is making a few starts to get a hang of it. However, after COTA, it doesn’t seem like he needs it. Zilisch has already bagged a P14 start in the qualifying. While it’s not great, we know he’d get a ton of corners to make passes. Also if he continues his Xfinity form, we might see him even winning the race. And that would be a special one. It would be his first Cup Series win and he’d also be the youngest to ever win at NASCAR top level. Currently, Joey Logano holds the record at 19 years old!

But Zilisch is not taking any pressure, he just wants to have fun with it. “It’s going to be tough, though. The Cup Series is a whole other level. I’m just really excited to learn and race against guys I remember watching on TV as a kid. It’s going to be a really cool experience, and I more so want to enjoy it than be nervous and scared about it. You only make your Cup debut once, so I’m going to try and enjoy it as much as I can.”

And it’s not going to be an easy race, especially with drivers like Shane van Gisbergen, Chase Elliott, and AJ Allmendinger in the fold. And Zilsich knows that “You see other guys come into Cup who are road course ringers – other than [Shane van Gisbergen] – like ex-F1 drivers, and they don’t just go out and dominate. I definitely want to be competitive and run inside the top 10, but wearing out the field is a whole different thing in the Cup Series,” He added.

Still, all eyes would be on Zilisch, after all, he’s got the odds in his favor. Do you think history will be made in the 2025 COTA Cup race? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.