Matt Johnson
NASCAR Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen’s streak of five consecutive wins on road courses ended this past Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, where he finished second behind Tyler Reddick. Viewed by some as the best road-course driver in NASCAR history, he could soon have a challenger.
On the latest episode of “Actions Detrimental” coming out of COTA, Denny Hamlin shared his belief that van Gisbergen’s “road course domination” will soon be shared by 19-year-old Cup Series driver Connor Zilisch.
Related: Denny Hamlin Praises Another Driver for Great Road Course Improvement
“I think that SVG is about to have company in the road-course domination bracket. It appears Zilisch is really, really…I mean he’s already got the race craft to pass and make speed speed…As the weekend went on, he just kept getting better and faster. I think we’re going to be talking about him for, definitely for a handful of races here where we’ll be turning left and right.”
Denny Hamlin on Connor Zilisch’s driving on road courses, ability to challenge Shane van Gisbergen
Heading into the NASCAR schedule this weekend at Phoenix, Zilisch has the fifth-fewest points (37) among full-time drivers in the Cup Series. That doesn’t tell the entire story about how well the rookie is driving the No. 88 car this season for Trackhouse Racing.
While Zilisch finished 33rd in the Daytona 500, he was actually in third on Lap 85 when the car got a little squirrely and he then got caught up in a big wreck. The following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Zilisch was sixth on the restart at Lap 93 and eighth on Lap 135 before dropping back and finishing 30th after getting caught behind some wrecks.
Related: NASCAR Power Rankings after COTA, See Where SVG and Denny Hamlin Land
However, the real standout performance came this past week at COTA. The No. 88 car had struggled in practice and qualifying, resulting in the team starting 25th on Sunday. To his credit, Zilisch worked his way into the top 10 at the start of Stage 2. Unfortunately for Trackhouse, he was spun in Turn 1 at the beginning of Stage 2 after getting dumped by Daniel Suarez, with the field passing by the No. 88 as it sat sideways.
Remarkably, Zilisch wound up navigating through the field once more with one of the fastest cars on the day. Unfortunately, bad luck found him again in the final stage. In that same Turn 1 with 17 laps to go, Hamlin caused Zilisch’s second spinout when the No. 11 got into the back of William Byron and effectively ricocheted the No. 24 into other cars, which then resulted in Zilisch’s car getting spun.
Related: Denny Hamlin Predicts How Tyler Reddick Finishes in the Regular Season
Zilisch suddenly found himself back in 32nd with just 16 laps to go. He was staring down the possibility of finishing outside the top 30 for the third consecutive race. Instead, he showed his mastercraft on road courses by maneuvering through the field to reach 24th place with 10 laps to go, 17th on the final lap, and eventually ending the day in 14th.
By the end of the day, Zilisch had made 56 passes during the entire race and finished the day with a more respectable 23 points. He was by far one of the most impressive drivers at COTA on Sunday, showing why he was the only driver last season at any level who could consistently keep pace with SVG on road courses.
The 19-year-old is showcasing a level of wizardry on road courses that’s only rivaled by someone who is 36 years old and has far more experience behind the wheel. Given the year-to-year improvements that SVG has shown on ovals from the start of last season to now, Zilisch’s career trajectory could absolutely make him one of the best drivers in NASCAR in a few short years. Until then, he’ll battle SVG to be the best road-course driver in NASCAR this season and beyond.
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