Any die-hard motorsport fan knows the fairytale story of how Lewis Hamilton and Ron Dennis met during his karting days and sealed their future together without knowing they would go on to win a championship in only his second Formula 1 season. And for NASCAR fans, a similar story seems to be brewing lately in America’s favourite motorsport series, and this time around, Justin Marks is playing the role of Ron Dennis.

So you might be wondering, who exactly is the wonder kid? Well, for those who had tuned in to the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona this year, Connor Zilisch put up a dominant display of talent in the LMP2 class in only his first-ever endurance race of this magnitude. And with his ties to Trackhouse Racing and Marks running deep, he is likely to be one of the team’s first homegrown prodigies. However, that could all have changed after Zilisch went on a trip that seems to be a bad omen of sorts for motorsport drivers. Just ask Chase Elliott and you’ll know.

Connor Zilisch prompts Justin Marks to revisit their contract due to off-season shenanigans

At the start of last season, Hendrick Motorsports was caught off guard when Chase Elliott was injured in a snowboarding incident during his trip to Colorado, resulting in a broken leg and a golden opportunity for Josh Berry. And immediately, fans began to connect the dots between racing drivers going on skiing trips and getting injured to the point of missing vital races, and even worse.

So with all that preconception going around, when Connor Zilisch revealed what he was up to as the new Cup Series season was about to kick off, Justin Marks had the fright of his life! Taking to X, Zilisch shared a photo of him and rising star Jesse Love relaxing in the snow in ski gear. He added, “Went skiing with @jesselovejr1 in California. Had fun✅ Still in one piece✅ I call that a success. Can’t wait for this season to get fired up!!!”

While Zilisch was ecstatic to have made it back in one piece and had a good amount of fun, Justin Marks clearly wasn’t having any of that. Marks retweeted the post and wrote, “I’m going through our contract right now” as if to add a clause that perhaps mentions ‘strictly no skiing!’ After all, the prospect of Zilisch getting injured before the big year starts is too scary for the man mentoring the young prodigy.

With Trackhouse Racing taking on Connor Zilisch in a development role for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, there is a lot lined up in Truck, Xfinity and ARCA Menards Series for the 17-year-old. And in his first outing, he managed to bring in the LMP2 win at the prestigious Rolex 24. So it’s safe to say the future is brighter than ever for Connor Zilisch, and Justin Marks just wants to ensure there are no unnecessary setbacks along the way.

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However, this didn’t stop the NASCAR community from joining in on Justin Marks’ hilarious tweet albeit at the expense of Chase Elliott!

Chase Elliott gets caught in the crossfire as the NASCAR community joins in on the banter

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While Chase Elliott had to sit a few races out owing to his snowy visit, Zilisch not only had a lot of fun but was back just in time to kickstart the 2024 adventure. Speaking of which, users felt Zilisch’s skills to keep himself safe on the snow called for Marks to make some positive changes to the contract instead. As a user stated, “Gonna give him a raise already. ✅” while another backed that statement with, “I mean, dude’s safer than Chase apparently.”

And that was just the beginning of all the digs at Chase Elliott unfortunately, or fortunately. One fan believed Mark would have to introduce a whole ruleset based around Elliott’s shenanigans as they shared, “The Chase Elliott clause.” Others felt it was the equipment that mattered; “Just don’t go Snowboarding and you should be fine.”  Other fans made use of hilarious GIFs to add more to the online banter!

No fan was pulling punches when it came to the infamous relationship between ski trips and motorsport drivers. A user added, “I’ve seen this movie before, Justin 😳 😳” But perhaps the funniest insight came from Jesse Love himself, who shared Zilisch’s antics, “Funny backstory. Connor falls and loses his ski.
I took a nap in the snow while he poked around for it in the powder. He snaps this pic so it looks like I fell. Crafty man.” This prompted Connor Zilisch to end the whole conversation with peak humour, “Life is all about perspective bud.”

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So after taking a look at how humorous the new mentor-mentee pairing can be, we can only imagine what the future holds in store for Justin Marks and Connor Zilisch as they navigate the young star’s formative years in American racing. Do you think Trackhouse Racing’s bet will pay off?