Connor Zilisch is set to take on the biggest challenge of his life as he begins his maiden full-time NASCAR Cup Series season with Trackhouse Racing at Daytona International Speedway this Sunday. Over the next 36 races, he will either live up to the hype that has built around him or fall flat as the balloon bursts.
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Zilisch won 10 races in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last year, became the regular-season champion, and, despite being just a teenager, turned heads across the motorsport world. It would not be a crime for any driver in his position to feel a sense of overconfidence.
But Zilisch remains calm and collected, with a humble understanding of what he can realistically expect from the 2026 season and what others should expect from him as well.
The Trackhouse Racing driver told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, “I think for me, my goal is, I want to walk out of Homestead in November better than I am walking in here today.”
“As long as I can say that I learned, I grew, I got better, and I feel more prepared going into next year than I do coming into this year… I think that’s the most important thing for me,” the 19-year-old added.
What are @ConnorZilisch‘s expectations for himself ahead of his anticipated rookie campaign with @TeamTrackhouse?
“As long as I’m growing each week, results show it and I’m doing better as the season goes on, that’s all I can ask for.” pic.twitter.com/5nJsawHmS2
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) February 12, 2026
Zilisch knows that he cannot make up for all the experience his competition has with sheer talent alone. The only way for him to reach their level is to stay on the racetrack and in his racecar without letting over-enthusiasm cloud his mind and make him believe he can win them all right off the bat.
Zilisch expects to make a lot of mistakes
Zilisch stunned many with his stellar performances throughout the 2025 season. It was a disappointment that he did not win the championship, which instead went to Jesse Love, but that does not take away from the fact that he put together a season that will be talked about for years to come. We can talk about his age and inexperience all we want, but he achieved all of this in his maiden full-time season at the level.
The Cup Series is a different game altogether. It is far more competitive and features a field filled with the best race car drivers on the planet. The giants he will face are the very ones he grew up watching and aspiring to emulate. The chaos of Talladega Superspeedway and the narrow lanes of Darlington Raceway are no easy place for a teenager to prove himself.
But who is to say he cannot repeat what he did last year? Zilisch has already proven that he is not someone to underestimate as a rookie. That said, he fully expects to make mistakes on the track. He will not allow them to hold him back, however, viewing them instead as avenues for growth and development.
In every sense, the more mistakes he makes, the more dangerous he becomes. He learns and adapts faster than most, adjusting with an efficiency that even the most sophisticated AI models would struggle to match. That is why the Cup Series needs to keep both eyes on him. There is a championship-caliber driver within Zilisch. It is only a matter of time before he brings it out.
