The big question ahead of NASCAR’s visit to Chicago last weekend was if any driver could put up a tough fight against Shane van Gisbergen. The three-time former Australian Supercars Champion’s expertise on road courses is simply unmatched, as evidenced by his 16-second win margin in Mexico City. While most failed to make life difficult for him as expected, one 18-year-old did.
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JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch has been impressing the crowds all season. He secured Xfinity Series victories at the Circuit of the Americas and the Pocono Raceway, and hasn’t finished outside the top-five in over a month. The streak continued in Chicago as he finished second after a brilliant outing that saw him nearly trump van Gisbergen for the win.
Zilisch would have been in Victory Lane if not for a controversial shove that the Kiwi delivered to move him out of the way on the final lap. Regardless of the disappointment, Zilisch proved to the world that he is capable of competing with the best there is. But there are some things that he needs to set right to become an “unstoppable” force in NASCAR.
Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones detailed this on a recent episode of Door, Bumper, Clear. Zilisch, being the young and inexperienced driver that he is, often wrecks his cars. Jones believes that this is something he needs to do less of.
Jones said, “You look at any guy that’s in Cup and has won races or at least runs well in Cup. At some point in their career, they were the best. Like, at some point — late models, trucks, Xfinity — they were dominating. Like, they were the guy, right? He (Zilisch) is doing that or very close to it in Xfinity. If he could just rein it in five percent, he would be pretty unstoppable.”
The hosts and Jones continued discussing how he could be the next Jeff Gordon with such a high level of skill. Several young drivers in the Xfinity Series carry similar attributes to him. They’re all keen on learning new things and improving themselves. This provides a positive promise about the future of the sport.
The line of discussion led the veteran spotter Freddie Kraft to pitch Carson Hocevar as the next Dale Earnhardt. The proposal was taken as an unbelievable joke by the others at the table. However, it ought to be noted that Dale Earnhardt Jr. himself expressed that Hocevar carries a character similar to that of his father. If fate decides so, a battle between Zilisch and Hocevar might be just the kind of rivalry to fire up fans in the future.
