Connor Zilisch, who signed a development deal with Trackhouse Racing before the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season began, got the opportunity to make his Cup Series debut at Circuit of the Americas more than a year later this past March, and he was ironically taken out by teammate Daniel Suarez, the driver he has been rumored to replace full-time in 2026.
Zilisch got to make his Cup Series oval debut in this past Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and he did a commendable job in NASCAR's longest race.
He completed 398 of the scheduled 400 laps around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval and finished in 23rd place. a day after notching his best ever Xfinity Series oval finish of second at the same track.
The 18-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native will likely make additional Cup Series starts behind the wheel of the No. 87 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet before the 2025 season concludes, even as he continues to pursue an Xfinity Series championship with JR Motorsports, but he will not compete in this coming Sunday night's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Trackhouse Racing will not field a fourth car in this race.
Trackhouse Racing have only fielded four cars in one other race this year, when they added the No. 91 Chevrolet as a part of their PROJECT91 initiative for Helio Castroneves in the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Though Castroneves did not qualify for the race himself, team owner Justin Marks applied for the "world-class driver" provisional, and NASCAR approved it, so Castroneves was locked into the field, which was expanded from the usual 40 cars to 41 to make room for him.
The Cracker Barrel 400 is set to be shown live on Amazon Prime Video from Nashville Superspeedway beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 1.