“I’m just excited to go to new places and learn them.” The humility is visible in these words uttered by Connor Zilisch just a few days before his COTA debut. After all, Dale Jr.’s prodigy followed in Joey Logano’s footsteps when he became the second-youngest driver to race in the Cup Series. But before that, the young driver had a different race on his hands. Saturday’s Focused Health 250 race started off as the 18-year-old racer’s show. But soon enough, he encountered a slew of problems.

Connor Zilisch started on the pole and led for 26 of the 65 laps. However, problems began unfolding for him from lap 19 onwards. Gigantic challenges sprung up in his path – however, Zilisch aggressively navigated through them, maybe upsetting a few people. But he is humble.

Connor Zilisch admits to his mistakes

Well, the first intruder in his path to victory was NASCAR itself. Officials closed the pits a fraction of a second before Connor Zilisch crossed the line. That landed the No. 88 Chevy driver a penalty, and Zilisch had to restart from 32nd place. Yet the youngster made a furious charge back to the front row. In fact, so fierce was his determination that it resulted in contact with Corey Heim’s No. 24 Chevy. Zilisch recovered his smoking tires and then again engaged in a fierce battle with his own teammate, Carson Kvapil.

With five laps to go, Kvapil’s No. 1 Chevrolet was left with punctured tires. That was when Connor Zilisch had a clear path in front of him and he charged to the victory. Yet after clinching his very first 2025 race win, Zilisch apologized for his aggressive moves. “I made some moves that were probably questionable and I’ve got some sorrys to say. You know, sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do to win this race. I’m glad we were able to get it to the front one way or another.” 

Connor Zilisch lamented about the penalty but also patted his team on the back for a good job done. “That was way tougher than I wanted it to be. That penalty made it difficult on us and made us work for it. But really proud of this WeatherTech Junior Motorsports team, we had a car as fast as Xfinity Mobil. And we were able to come back to the field and get back to the lead as tough as it was.”

Despite his joy at overcoming these hurdles, Connor Zilisch humbly saluted his competitors. “Yeah, I knew that our car was so fast and that kind of gave me a little bit of comfort. I was a little worried about the 9. He got a penalty which helped us a lot. And the 1 was really fast as well – it wasn’t until he made a mistake was I able to get by him with about ten to go…I was kind of sitting back and hoping that they were going to make mistakes. The 1 eventually made a mistake when I was close to him. I was able to sneak by.”

For Zilisch, the Xfinity win was a humbling experience. His tussle with Corey Heim cost the driver a potential top-five finish and brought out a remark about Zilisch’s “overly aggressive” driving. Yet, the biggest piece of critique came from Dale Jr.’s team. JR Motorsports veteran and 2024 Xfinity Champion Justin Allgaier wasn’t happy about the way Zilisch raced. When Zilisch pushed Allgaier on a restart and left him no room, Allgaier was left confused. After the race concluded, Allgaier said, “We will have to sit down and talk about it to see what his mindset was in that moment. I don’t know if I wasn’t there that he was making the corner to be honest with you.” 

His talents are indubitable – and have been compared to a Cup Series champion.

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The next ‘sliced bread’?

Joey Logano, a three-time Cup Series champion, caught attention when he was just 15 years old. Legendary NASCAR driver Mark Martin heaped praises on him. “I am absolutely, 100-percent positive, without a doubt that he can be one of the greatest that ever raced in NASCAR. There’s no doubt in my mind.” What stood out for Logano was his youth – his first Cup Series victory in a 2009 New Hampshire race came when he was only 19.

Connor Zilisch is also paving a similar path. In 2024, he won 15 total races across seven different series as a 17-year-old. Those wins included two endurance races in the LMP2 class and the very first Xfinity Series race he entered at Watkins Glen. And the young prodigy is also aiming to accumulate as many victories as possible, as he mentioned before the COTA race. “I want to try and become the youngest Cup Series winner, and to do that, I have to race as soon as possible and get it in before I turn 19. So, you know, I wanted to at least give myself a shot at that. So that was definitely part of my thinking. And honestly, I don’t feel like there’s anything that tells me that I’m not ready to race on a road course on Sunday.”

Evidently, Connor Zilisch is wiser beyond his years. That shows both in his humble words as well as in his race victories.