DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Connor Zilisch paused to compose himself before wiping away tears, then spent the next 20 minutes using his shirt as a handkerchief.<\/p>\n
It was an emotional promotion at Daytona International Speedway, even if it was one of the worst-kept secrets in NASCAR this season.<\/p>\n
Zilisch, a 19-year-old phenom who has seven victories in NASCAR\u2019s second-tier Xfinity Series, officially landed a Cup ride for 2026 on Saturday. It was long expected to happen, so much so that Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks joked that \u201cwe\u2019re here to shock the world with an announcement that nobody saw coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marks said Zilisch signed a multiyear contract to drive full time for Trackhouse next year. Zilisch will replace Daniel Su\u00e1rez in a yet-to-be-numbered Chevrolet and join teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen in Marks\u2019 three-car team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I would make it anywhere in racing,\u201d Zilisch said before pausing to compose himself. \u201cMy parents have been behind me since Day 1, through every moment, the good, the bad. There were many times I questioned why I left school, left my friends to make this commitment to go to the Cup Series and try and chase a dream of racing in motorsports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never knew what was ahead of me. There were times five years ago I thought I was just going to go to college and live the life of a normal kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both of Zilisch\u2019s parents teared up as he spoke, with his dad later saying his son is \u201cnormally very stoic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zilisch raced competitively in go-karts as a kid, including a stint in Europe at age 11. The Mooresville, North Carolina, driver turned pro in 2021.<\/p>\n
Since then, Zilisch found success in every series he\u2019s entered. In the last two years, he won the 2024 Rolex 24 and the 12 Hours of Sebring as well as five ARCA races, two NASCAR Truck Series poles, plus a victory in a CARS Tour late model race.<\/p>\n
Zilisch has been a Trackhouse developmental driver for two years. He showed he\u2019s ready for NASCAR\u2019s top level by winning often with JR Motorsports. He currently leads the Xfinity Series points standings.<\/p>\n
He has eight victories in 27 Xfinity starts. He has reeled off 12 consecutive top-five finishes, including winning at Daytona on Friday night after giving way to backup driver Parker Kligerman.<\/p>\n
Zilisch started the race less than two weeks after breaking his collarbone during a nasty, slip-and-fall accident in victory lane. He was cleared to return at Daytona and started the race. Kligerman stepped in during the event, and Zilisch ran across the infield grass to greet him at the finish line.<\/p>\n
Zilisch had surgery last week to insert a plate in his shoulder to stabilize the broken bone. His foot caught on his window net at Watkins Glen on Aug. 9, causing him to fall head-first onto the concrete.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnor is a rare talent that comes along every few decades,\u201d Marks said. \u201cI have watched Connor grow from a kid racing go-karts at the Trackhouse Motorplex to an up-close seat as he beat all of us in the Trans Am races a few years ago. He quickly adapted to everything we have put him in, and what he is doing with JR Motorsports in Xfinity this season is historic.<\/p>\n
\u201cConnor is very mature, poised, and I know ready for Cup racing in 2026. He\u2019s been mentored along the way by former racer Josh Wise and Dr. Eric Warren at General Motors. I can speak for everyone at Trackhouse Racing when I say we have a tremendous amount of faith in this young man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marks expects to announce Zilisch\u2019s car number, sponsorship, crew chief and crew lineup in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Connor Zilisch paused to compose himself before wiping away tears, then spent the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":173966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-173965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115088669018662847","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}