Connor Zilisch missed this past weekend's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after suffering a back injury late in the previous weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Fortunately for him, there is no more Xfinity Series action scheduled to take place until Saturday, May 24, when the series is set to visit Charlotte Motor Speedway.
On the flip side, the 18-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native had planned on competing in this Saturday night's Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, which would have marked his first Truck Series start since last year, but he will not do that.
Connor Zilisch replacement confirmed, and it's not Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson, who replaced him in his full-time No. 88 JR Motorsports entry at Texas, had been under the impression that he could be called upon to replace Zilisch in the No. 07 Spire Motorsports truck on Saturday, having competed in two races for the team earlier this year. He won at Homestead-Miami Speedway and placed second at Bristol Motor Speedway.
However, it is William Byron, one of Larson's Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series teammates, who is listed as the driver of the No. 07 Chevrolet on the entry list for this 134-lap Heart of Health 200 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kansas City, Kansas oval.
Byron made one start for Spire Motorsports earlier this season, finishing in 14th place at Martinsville Speedway.
31 trucks entered for Kansas. 1-BJones 07-Byron 7-Hocevar. … Larson said he thought he might do this race for Zilisch, who was scheduled to do this race, but the entry list shows Byron will be in the 07 truck. pic.twitter.com/vHSKdS980w
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 5, 2025
Carson Hocevar, who competes full-time for the team in the Cup Series, is set to make his second consecutive Truck Series start in the No. 7 Chevrolet, their other shared entry. He placed 17th at Texas.
There is also scheduled to be a Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro Speedway next Saturday, but Spire Motorsports already have Kyle Busch lined up to drive the No. 07 Chevrolet in that event. The driver of the No. 7 truck, however, remains TBD.
For the following weekend's race at Charlotte, the driver of the No. 07 Chevrolet is TBD, while Busch is set to drive the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, May 10 for the live broadcast of the Heart of Health 200 from Kansas Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now if you have not already had the chance to do so!