NASCAR's decision to move the Cup Series All-Star Race to Dover Motor Speedway and introduce a format nobody could make any sense of was mostly a disaster.
The entire field participated in the first two "segments", before an average of the finishes from the segments was used to set the lineup for the final 200-lap event. Multiple major accidents during those qualifier races prevented two locked-in drivers (Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain) from competing for a chance to win $1 million, while several others had to putter around with heavily damaged vehicles.
It was an experiment gone wrong, and performance-wise, it's hard to take much away other than the fact that the No. 11 team continues to run circles around the field. But there was one development that didn't go unnoticed.
Connor Zilisch is cracking the code to compete with the big boys in the NASCAR Cup Series
Connor Zilisch might be the most hyped prospect in NASCAR history, but his first season at the top level has not gotten off to a promising start. He sits 32nd in the standings after 12 points-paying races, with a best finish of 14th. But ever so slowly, he's been turning a corner.
Zilisch has scored back-to-back top 20 results at Texas Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International, the latter of which would have been a top five if not for a late blown tire. He was expected to contend immediately on road courses, but it's been his progression on ovals that everybody is keeping a close eye on.
At Dover, the 19-year-old prodigy truly felt like he arrived. He finished well in both opening segments to lock himself into the final stage with a top five starting position, and he moved up as high as third before a penalty on pit road sent him to the back. He then drove all the way back through the field to come home fifth.
Most Cup Series rookies can be expected to struggle, especially when they're as young as Zilisch, and doubly especially when they're driving for mediocre race teams. But generally, much like Joey Logano and William Byron, to name a few examples, there's a point around one-third of the way into the year when the "rookie wall" is overcome and they begin stringing together competitive runs.
Zilisch has proven to be a quick learner at every level. If the past few weeks are any indication, he's doing it again among the best of the best, and not just on the tracks he was supposed to be good at.
Add us as a preferred source on Google