The alleged best NASCAR prospect, and certainly the most hyped, since Jeff Gordon finds himself with a top finish of a disappointing 14th place through the first eight races of his rookie Cup Series.
He's 33rd in the point standings, ahead of only two drivers who have run all eight races. His deficit to the playoff cut line (93) is more than his entire points tally (84).
Yet Connor Zilisch reminded all of us why he's as highly touted as he is by going head-to-head with Kyle Larson and coming out on top of the intrateam JR Motorsports battle in Saturday night's O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
It's as if he's on the verge of a breakthrough, one year after becoming just the third driver to win double-digit races in a single Xfinity Series season, until you look at just how invisible he's been at the Cup level thus far, save for what would have been an easy top five result at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) had he not been spun out twice.
At some point, questions need to start being asked. One question, regarding how the media would react if the 19-year-old, who was bizarrely considered a preseason championship favorite, struggled to start his full-time stint at Trackhouse Racing, has already been partially answered, time and time again.
Yet performances like the one Zilisch had on Saturday almost lead to more questions, rather than answers.
Is Trackhouse Racing really that bad?
It's no secret that the Justin Marks-owned team has not been on the level they were on before Ross Chastain's infamous run-in with Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway in May 2023. Chastain made it all the way to the Championship 4 with two wins in 2022, his first season with the team.
He won a race in each of the next three years, although he missed the playoffs entirely in 2024. This year, his top finish in a non-superspeedway race (15th) is actually worse than Zilisch's.
Shane van Gisbergen is in the provisional playoff picture as things stand, but you kind of have to wonder how long that will last.
The road and street course ace has taken a step forward on ovals as a whole, but his top non-superspeedway oval result is still only 10th, and that probably won't keep him inside the top 16 in points for much longer, especially after NASCAR knocked off three of the five venues where he won a year ago from this year's schedule.
On the flip side, you're kidding yourself if you don't believe that Zilisch was guaranteed Daniel Suarez's Trackhouse Racing seat for 2026, even before he made his Xfinity Series debut in 2024, much less his Cup Series debut in 2025.
He signed with Trackhouse Racing as a 17-year-old in early 2024, and 2026 was always the target.
In that sense, there has always been pressure on him to perform from a very young age, and while his Xfinity Series numbers were off the charts, there will always be those who point to the belief that he was rushed through the stock car ranks, even for as talented as he's shown to be in other forms of motorsport from very early on in his career.
It's talent that has even resulted in crazy rumors of a Formula 1 switch.
If I'm Rick Hendrick or, ironically, Jeff Gordon, I'm already on the phone with Zilisch trying to Zak Brown my way out of his Trackhouse Racing contract and get him in the No. 48 Chevrolet as Alex Bowman's replacement as early as I can.
Yes, it's a gamble, because as we've said, Zilisch has shown absolutely nothing at the Cup level so far on the ovals. If him being rushed to the top is playing any role whatsoever in his struggles, he will no longer be able to hide behind the media's "Trackhouse Racing just isn't good" shield if he actually lands in proven top-tier equipment.
But Hendrick Motorsports really have nothing to lose at this point. Bowman is by no means a bad number four driver, but he's now missed multiple races in three of the past five seasons, and he's won just twice during that stretch. If he doesn't win by July, it will mark his second win drought of at least two years since 2022.
Zilisch, on the other hand, has the potential to be a mainstay for the next two decades.
He might not be Kyle Larson, but even coming close would be a major win for all parties. Just look at what Hendrick Motorsports did with Larson in 2020, after he had long been linked to Stewart-Haas Racing.
In the face of public criticism after Larson's infamous online blunder that April, Hendrick signed him to replace seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, and Larson went on to win 10 races in 2021 alone. He has since won two championships and is by far the series wins leader over the past six seasons, even without a win since May 2025.
How much longer until Zilisch's situation at Trackhouse Racing grows stale, if there is no visible improvement? Performances like the one he put on during the Bristol O'Reilly Series race show that there is plenty of untapped potential, and he might just be scratching the surface.
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