Connor Zilisch’s start to the 2026 Cup Series season has been a slow one. He finished outside the top-30 at both Daytona and Atlanta, unfortunate accidents hurting every chance he had of good finishes. But the third race weekend is one that he can truly look forward to with confidence. It will go down at the Circuit of the Americas, a road course, this Sunday.
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It is no secret that road courses are his niche. He races extremely well on the track type and hopes to use the same expertise to turn his luck around. Furthermore, COTA is a track where he has performed well in the past. He made his Cup Series debut there last year and did really well before a collision with Daniel Suarez damaged his chances of a good finish.
Since that race, he has grown tremendously as a driver. He secured 11 wins in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last year and finished second in the standings. He believes that the experience and the expertise that he comes packing into this upcoming weekend will help his case massively.
He said in a recent media teleconference, “Obviously, it takes a lot to win these races and compete at the very front and race against guys like SVG at the road courses. I’ve done it before in the (O’Reilly Auto Parts) Series … I feel like it’s definitely capable now that I’m a full-time driver at Trackhouse. We got a really good road-course program, and there’s definitely a lot of confidence going into this weekend.”
Patience is key.
This is what Connor Zilisch has learned as he continues his first full-time Cup season, with Circuit of The Americas – the same track he debuted in Cup last year – next (Sun., 3:30 p.m. ET, FOX).
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His battles with Shane van Gisbergen were one of the highlights of the 2025 season. Both are extremely good on road courses, and it was very difficult to separate them. This season, they take the rest of the field on as teammates. Zilisch believes that patience is the secret key to unlocking his full potential at this level.
He noted how he had been very eager at the beginning of last year to make passes and prove himself quickly during a race. But now he has come to realize that that’s a strategy that simply won’t work in the Cup Series. Races are much longer, and they require careful planning. He needs to plan in which moments he must be aggressive and when he mustn’t.
Hopefully, he will be able to quickly climb back up from the rut he finds himself in and get into the race to make it to the Chase.
