When you bill a rookie as one of the favorites to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship and make nonstop comparisons to the great Jeff Gordon, you don't retroactively get the benefit of using the "it was always going to take him some time" excuse when that driver comes out and beats Cody Ware and quite literally only Cody Ware through the first 23 races.
Such is the case when it comes to the obnoxious media hype surrounding Connor Zilisch, media hype that was in part based on the fact that he beat up on Xfinity Series competition that simply wasn't all that strong in 2025.
Blame Trackhouse Racing for being weak all you want to, and there's no doubt that they haven't been a serious contender, but Shane van Gisbergen has been inside the provisional playoff picture for most of the season, and Ross Chastain has the momentum to potentially make a late playoff push.
Zilisch has also certainly been the victim of a number of incidents not of his own doing, but he's also been the cause of some mind-boggling others.
Rookies do make mistakes.
It does take time.
We're not attacking him.
We've been clear that we want to see him do well.
We're just also admittedly loving the media who played him up as NASCAR's version of Max Verstappen (he was even linked to an F1 seat!) and legitimately thought he was going to come in and dominate the field from day one try to backtrack, now that anything higher than 24th and less than two laps down is considered a positive day for the 20-year-old.
Of course, we all know mainstream NASCAR media absolutely loves to run with trendy narratives, earned or otherwise (and sometimes totally fake). You actually feel kind of bad for Zilisch, because this one was sort of easy to see coming when you consider all the unnecessary pressure placed on him from even before day one.
But perhaps the worst part of Zilisch's season took place at the Brickyard 400, when Corey Heim, who had only run eight of 22 races at that point, passed him in terms of total points scored.
Heim is ineligible for Cup Series driver points, since he's scoring points in the Craftsman Truck Series (in a similar part-time role), but he still scores points for the No. 67 23XI Racing team and their non-chartered (open) Toyota.
Fortunately, due to a technicality, Zilisch, the lone full-time rookie in this year's Cup Series, doesn't have to worry about finishing second in a one-driver Rookie of the Year battle.
Heim, a two-time winner this year, is scheduled to run four more races before the season concludes, so him finishing ahead of Zilisch in points earned is very possible. It could certainly be close. Based on their current averages, Heim would end the year with 344, while Zilisch would have 383. Zilisch leads 245 to 229 after Heim didn't compete this past weekend at Iowa Speedway.
But Heim, despite having not run full-time in the Cup Series, will never be eligible to win Rookie of the Year. Not this year, and not even next year.
He is not eligible this year since he didn't declare for the award, and he won't be eligible next year since he is set to enter the season with 19 career starts, including 12 in 2026.
If Heim had signed up for Cup points, he wouldn’t have been able to drive the Toyota car in the wheel-force (data-gathering car) tests. … but that is news there is a limit as we had been told case by case. https://t.co/8hAse7iC9A
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) August 12, 2026
The fact that the limit even seems made-up to Bob Pockrass says everything you need to know, and that is that NASCAR continues to make up rules on the fly without actually relaying the message to anybody, with that message only being passed along under their own convenient discretion.
At the end of the day, Heim ran four races a year ago and three in 2024, so he technically should have been eligible this year, although it makes sense why he didn't sign up as a part-time driver. Again, he also technically isn't points eligible in the Cup Series, even though he has scored 229 points in the No. 67 car.
For all we know, maybe he too bought the narrative that Zilisch was the second coming of Gordon and would have had the entire championship wrapped up by now.
But in all seriousness, at least Zilisch, the lone true full-time rookie in the field, doesn't have to watch the award handed to a guy who ran 24 fewer races than he did and wasn't even points eligible.
Having said that, is it possible NASCAR simply didn't want to deal with the embarrassment of Zilisch not winning the award when he supposedly had no competition?
Gragson also ran 18 in 2022 and was eligible in 2023. Not sure what rule they made up this time.
— Preston Looper (@PrestonLooper) August 12, 2026
We've seen decisions made on a case-by-case basis in the past. Noah Gragson was indeed eligible in 2023. The only precedent has historically been that there is no precedent.
In 2023, NASCAR wanted to play up Gragson vs. Ty Gibbs at the Cup level after their Xfinity Series duels. And by the way, Gibbs ran 15 races in 2022 as well. Shane van Gisbergen also won the 2025 award, despite having run 12 races in 2024 (and two others in 2023).
Maybe they don't want Zilisch to finish second in what was supposed to be a one-driver race. Maybe it would look silly if a driver with zero points won the award. We're not conspiracy theorists. But either way, why keep Heim out of the 2027 mix as well, in what is set to be his first full season?
Call a spade a spade. They make it up as they go.
And at the end of the day, regardless of who gets the trophy, we've all seen who NASCAR's top newcomer is in 2026.
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