The biggest possibility in recent times NASCAR History has joined the Cup Series field starting in 2026.
Hailing from North Carolina, he stands just six feet tall and has a resume so impressive that he was signed as a Red Bull athlete at the age of 18. Behind the driving is raw talent coupled with a wide smile and an infectiously charming personality. Despite seemingly no time at all, he won races across the United States and Europe and broke several records along the way.
The name, for those unfamiliar or who haven’t heard it enough during his historic rookie season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he won 10 races and the regular season championship, is Connor ZylischTrackhouse Racing, which brought Zylisch to NASCAR for the first time in 2024, will field him in the No, 88 Chevrolet next year with Red Bull and WeatherTech as its major partner,
“I think he’s better than me at that age, and he seems more mature than me at that age,” said the three-time Cup Series champion. Joey Logano Laughed. “It’s easy for an 18 or 19-year-old to drink the Kool-Aid. He’s a great driver, no doubt. He’s won a lot of Xfinity races. Cup racing is different. Everyone at this level is great. Everyone is fantastic.
“So, you can’t drink too much of your own Kool-Aid where you think you’re the next thing because you’ll get here and fall on your face. I lived it. As much as I think he’s good and will be, I also think he needs to stay humble during all of this and remember what’s important.”
Logano is actually a great example for Zilisch to study what it’s like to be considered the next big thing in the sport. In the early 2000s, Logano raised so many eyebrows for what he did while climbing the racing ladder that two-time NASCAR
Joe Gibbs Racing signed Logano as a teenager, and he began winning races on fast short tracks while showing he could hang with the best in NASCAR’s national series. He became the youngest winner in Xfinity Series history in 2008. A year later, earlier than expected and before he was ready, Logano was in the Cup Series. The depth of the competition quickly brought Logano back down to earth as he struggled to find his footing and results.
kyle busch Here’s another case study for Zillisk. They also entered the Cup Series with a lot of attention and expectation.
It started with Kurt Busch, who told anyone who would listen that if they thought he was good, wait until they saw his little brother. Kyle Busch made his national series debut in 2001 at the age of 16. Hendrick Motorsports signed a deal with him shortly thereafter, putting him in the Xfinity Series at the age of 18.
Busch won five races in his rookie year. He was in the Cup Series a year later. Now he is a two-time champion.
“First let me preface this by saying that this is not a dig at Ty, but look ty gibbs” Busch said of what Zillisch should expect in 2026. “It’s the same kind of thing: dominating the Again, this is not a dig at Ty, it’s just a fact. So, Zillisk is going to have the same thing. It’s a rude awakening.
“When you look at the Truck Series to the Xfinity Series, you can kind of say, ‘Okay, this is a little bit of a step up. I get it.’ But when you look at the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series, that step up is huge, and the good teams are obviously proving themselves to be standouts, but the drivers… a lot of them don’t understand it or understand that step up.
Busch believes that what hurts young drivers nowadays is that they are not competing against Cup Series drivers before they reach the Cup Series level. NASCAR took away that opportunity – and what Busch did on his way – when they placed restrictions on how many races a Cup Series driver could run in other series (limiting them to five).
Zilish started racing at age 5 and spent a decade in karting. During that time, he won the FIA Karting Academy Trophy (at the age of 14 and as the first American) and raced in Europe. During his time abroad he attracted the attention of NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick, which changed his life path. Harvick took Zylisch under his wing, introduced him to stock car racing, and explained that Jim Zylisch, Connor’s father, could not let his son stop racing and go to college.
Luckily, the advice stuck. Zylisch soon began competing in various motorsports disciplines in the United States, including Mazda MX-5 Cup, sports cars, and stock cars. Zylisch was fast in everything, and won the Late Model Stock Cars, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in 2024.
In the three Cup series launched by Zillicht in 2025, the learning curve and time it took to adjust were front and center. He knows he will make mistakes, the car being on the edge leaves little margin for error, and he will have bad days.
“Whether you’re racing for the win, top 10 or 32nd, there are no breaks,” Zillisch said. “It doesn’t matter; everyone is there to be in the next best position and everyone is paid to finish as good as possible. There is no slack cut like in He started racing as if it was the last journey of his life.
“This is what it’s talked about. The Cup Series is no joke, and I don’t think it makes sense how big of a jump it is from Saturday to Sunday.”
Zillisch has proven that he should be a Cup Series driver, but like many who came before him, only time will tell how quickly he swims into the deep end of the pool he is being thrown into. Logano needed time and experience and a second chance from a different team owner before he could become champion. Bush was fast from the beginning.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if it went either way for Zilleisch.
“My friendship is zen [Smith] And noah [Gragson] And he told me, ‘Man, just wait until you’re fighting for a lucky dog or you’re 25th and you’re happy you made the top 20,'” Zillisch said. “Until you get there, you don’t understand.” Everybody in the Cup Series was a champion or a winner or dominant at certain points in their career and you get to the Cup Series, and nobody dominates. There is no one who is clear ahead of the field. It’s just different, and it’s hard to understand. “Losing hurts, but you learn from losing.”
