Connor Zilisch in line to continue odd NASCAR superstar trend?

As Fox Sports' Regan Smith said on the broadcast before Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), it's been a long time since we've seen a NASCAR Cup Series debut as hyped up as Connor Zilisch's was.

Zilisch, a native of Mooresville, North Carolina, has already made a huge name for himself, with months still to go before he even turns 19 years old.

Since the start of 2024, he has won 16 races across seven different professional racing series, including IMSA's Rolex 24 at Daytona in the LMP2 class. He also recorded five ARCA Menards Series wins in just nine starts, plus two NASCAR Xfinity Series victories in just seven starts, including in his series debut at Watkins Glen International last year.

Given the fact that he also won the Xfinity Series race at COTA the day before his Cup debut, becoming the fourth driver ever to win multiple Xfinity races at 18 years old, the hype was real after he qualified a very respectable 14th place.

Many sportsbooks even had the teenager as one of the top five or six favorites to win entering Sunday, despite the fact he hadn't even turned a lap in racing conditions. If he had won, which was a genuine possibility, he would have been the youngest Cup Series winner of all-time, and just the second debut winner in the last 62 years.

While Zilisch put together a very solid performance, he was unfortunately caught up in two separate incidents, both ironically caused by his Trackhouse Racing teammates in Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez. The Suarez incident ended his day at turn 19 and forced him to finish 37th (last).

Luckily for Zilisch, a poor result in his Cup Series debut could be a great omen for his future.

Sunday's finish was a tough result for what was otherwise a great debut, as he drove from the back to 14th after his turn one, opening lap incident caused by Chastain. Everything that happened was unfortunately out of his control, and that's something synonymous with today's NASCAR racing, so he will have to get used to it!

However, Zilisch is far from the first driver to come home with a bad finish in his Cup Series debut, and he certainly won't be the last. Kyle Busch, who nearly scored his first win in 60 races in the same event, was quick to point that out to the 18-year-old sensation on "X," the platform formerly known as Twitter.

For those who remember, Busch made his debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway all the way back in 2004, driving the No. 84 Hendrick Motorsports CARQUEST-sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

After starting 18th, he made up two spots on the opening lap, before brushing the wall off turn four on lap three, and then again a few laps later, resulting in a 41st place effort after just 11 laps. Needless to say, Busch has gone on to have a stellar career.

But that post on "X" from Busch on Monday morning got people in the NASCAR community thinking about some other big-name star drivers who may have had rough debuts, but went on to have great careers.

From a list of just current, active drivers, NASCAR Classics came up with seven championship names, including Busch, who also had nightmare debuts to kick off their Cup Series careers.

Joey Logano finished 32nd at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2008, Ryan Blaney ended up 27th at Kansas Motor Speedway in 2014, Kyle Larson finished 37th at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2013, Chase Elliott finished 38th at Martinsville Speedway in 2015, Martin Truex Jr. wound up 37th at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2004, and Jimmie Johnson ended up 39th at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2001.

In addition, nearly all of these drivers suffered from issues or incidents in those races. To name a few, Johnson spun himself around off turn four and all but ruined his race, and Larson suffered from engine issues in his No. 51 Phoenix Racing machine after, much like Zilisch, racing in the top 15 on merit. Elliott was on the wrong end of a restart stack-up and caved in his front end before finishing 73 laps down.

In Logano's case, he ran cleanly all day, but he was also off the pace and finished several laps down, also as an 18-year-old part-time driver. With all of that in mind, Zilisch shouldn't feel too badly about how his debut went, because it went very similarly, if not a little better than, some of the debuts made by the most established drivers in the sport today.

All of those drivers have gone on to become Cup Series champions.

While nothing has been announced, it is expected that Zilisch will compete in a few more Cup Series races in 2025.

Another thing that Zilisch has in common with all those drivers listed above is that they all started their Cup careers in part-time roles before making the jump.

All of them competed in a select handful of races, or even less for that matter, for a year or two before going full-time. Unlike what is more commonly seen today, where most young drivers graduate from the lower levels and instantly go full-time to the Cup Series, this has proven to be a strong strategy for building young drivers' foundations when the pressure on them is seemingly lower.

In all likelihood, it does kind of feel like the decision has already been made for Zilisch to replace Daniel Suarez at Trackhouse Racing for 2026, which may concern some fans that he too is being a little bit rushed to the Cup level.

Judging by the words of Trackhouse team-owner Justin Marks, Zilisch is likely to compete in several more races this season, to better prepare him for a potential full-time season next year and thus mitigate the effects of that concern.

Zilisch's talent should be enough to carry him through the inevitable mistakes and rough patches that come with any rookie season, regardless of when that is and how experienced and prepared he will be beforehand.

What is clear, though, is that Zilisch is already huge property. His name is already etched globally with his young age, his rapid growth, and his success in many forms of racing, plus his partnership with Red Bull as one of their athletes.

Regardless of how his next few Cup Series races, and eventually his rookie season, turn out, his career in NASCAR is in very good hands. Just like Logano did as a teenager, even if he struggles for years to start, he should eventually break through and likely become one of NASCAR's modern greats.