Connor Zilisch has been receiving guidance from Shane van Gisbergen and has even reached out to forge a friendship with him. However, it is Jimmie Johnson, who holds a special place as his source of inspiration, who he has always rooted for. While Johnson’s NASCAR achievements are the obvious draw, Zilisch shared some more reasons during his appearance on the Rubbin’ is Racing podcast.
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He explained, “I’d say you know I grew up rooting for Jimmy. I was a Jimmy fan. I know it’s boring to say, but I admired his work ethic, his skill.”
“I think as I’ve gotten to kind of hear more about him and stories from people about him, and my respect has definitely grown for him because you know he won whatever five championships in a row… and after each one, he was still the hardest worker out there. He still outworked everybody.”
He noted that while many become complacent upon achieving success, Johnson never did, which is why he continued to excel and amass championships.
Additionally, when Zilisch was asked who he draws comparisons with regarding his skills, he mentioned Joey Logano. Although Zilisch stated that he doesn’t know Logano personally, he resonates with Logano’s career trajectory, which mirrors his own.
Zilisch elaborated, “He [Logano] made his cup series debut at 18… So, I’m curious to see kind of what his mindset was, the mistakes he made, the things he went through that he wished he didn’t. But I feel like that’d be cool to kind of hear about and see if I could learn anything from him.”
NASCAR insider believes Zilisch can become as popular as Johnson.
NASCAR insider Brett Griffin, recognizing the potential in 18-year-old Zilisch, recently called on NASCAR to enhance its promotional tactics for the young racer.
In recent years, since the peak of Johnson’s fame, the sport has seen a noticeable decline in the emergence of standout drivers, a trend that can be attributed to increased parity within the series and a possible deficiency in effective driver marketing strategies.
Griffin addressed this shortfall by taking to social media to articulate his perspective on the strategic promotion of Zilisch, advocating for a more vigorous approach to showcasing this burgeoning talent.
He stated that NASCAR needs to figure out how to hero Zilisch, given he has the potential to win in a school bus, also calling him Tiger Woods.
But there’s still a lot that Zilisch needs to figure out and get comfortable with, particularly with the Next Gen cars, before he can get on the journey of that fame.
