Connor Zilisch is currently one of the hottest young prospects in NASCAR. Just 18 years old, he has already won an Xfinity Series race (Watkins Glen, 2024) and is on a mission to reach more victory lanes. He has come to learn some important lessons in the time that he has been playing around in the top tiers, and one of them is to avoid what Carson Hocevar has been doing.
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Hocevar came under the spotlight for his aggressive driving in Atlanta last weekend. He finished in second place, but the cost of the result was the enmity of many drivers, including Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney.
Zilisch does not think this is the right approach to racing. He detailed his thoughts about the right behavior for young drivers in a recent episode of the Rubbin is Racing podcast.
He contends that rookie drivers can’t let the seniors bully them around. However, they must also ensure that they don’t get on their bad sides too much too often.
He said, “You can’t overdo it, do what Carson [Hocevar] did this weekend and piss everyone off because that’s how you get yourself in trouble. Once you lose other people’s respect, it’s really hard to get it back.”
He continued to note that it is important for a driver in his rookie season to build respect with the veterans. He reasons that they could make life much more difficult for a youngster than he could do for them. Wise words from Zilisch. However, it is questionable whether Hocevar would be receptive to them. He has already made it clear that the NASCAR field isn’t a boy band.
Zilisch will not be aggressive in his Cup Series debut this Sunday
For all the reasons that he mentioned and more, Zilisch will not try to antagonize any of the Cup Series drivers he will be racing against in the Circuit of the Americas this Sunday. The race will be his debut in the premier series, and he just wishes to finish strong with a reputation as a clean driver. He is being rather cautious and clever, one might add, about this entire ordeal.
He said, “I think that going into this weekend they will show respect, right? Until I don’t. If I do something that kind of ticks one of them off, I feel like it’s going to lead to more of them getting ticked off.” A bunch of angry Cup Series drivers trying to stop him from finishing is the last thing Zilisch wants. All that said, he pointed out that he wouldn’t hesitate to return unpleasant favors.
“If someone wants to move me out of the way, I’ll move him right back without hesitation,” he added. The driver has secured pole position in the Xfinity Series race that he is scheduled to drive on Saturday. He will be driving for JR Motorsports and won the pole with a lap speed of 88.832 miles per hour. Interestingly, Ross Chastain will be starting next to him in the front row.
