Zilisch working harder than ever in Cup Series, but still searching for solid ground

Connor Zilisch continues to find that no matter how hard he works, there is no escaping the toughness of the NASCAR Cup Series rookie learning curve.

It’s a far cry from what Zilisch was experiencing a year ago when he was in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. But as any driver is warned ahead of making the move up the ladder, you are never ready for Cup Series racing. Not only that, but you’ll find yourself racing your guts out on Sunday, only to be told you are further back on the leaderboard than you might think.

“Last year, I found that it was pretty easy to run inside the top five, and there would be days where I led the race, and I didn’t feel like I was having to work that hard to do it,” Zilisch said Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Now I feel like it’s 500 laps every week of just racing as hard as I possibly can for 22nd. It’s like, ‘Man, I feel like I should be running better than this.’

“But the competition level is so much higher on Sundays.”

The phenom from Trackhouse Racing has seven starts under his belt this season in his No. 88 Chevrolet and an average finish of 26th. With only two top-20 finishes in those starts, Zilisch is buried at 33rd in the standings.

“Every time you see somebody go down and run a truck or O’Reilly race, you see the skill difference,” Zilisch said. “It’s a true thing, and I don’t think people on the outside quite realize that. But everybody on Sunday’s is really, really good, and it makes it challenging, but it’s very rewarding as well.”

Zilisch won 10 races in his rookie season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for JR Motorsports and broke records along the way. It ended in heartbreaking fashion with a championship loss in the season finale.

The uphill climb in the Cup Series is not unexpected, regardless of talent, and Zilisch’s talent is not in question. Zilisch has experienced races where his team has outright struggled and days when he showed he was capable of success, only to have it taken away by factors beyond his control.

In the latter category, running inside the top five in the Daytona 500 and being collected in a crash. Or having a top 10 car at Circuit of the Americas and being spun twice in Turn 1.

An introspective Zilisch also knows there are things he could be doing better, such as restarts.

“This car is a lot different in the fact that you have to find yourself in different spots on restarts to move forward, and you always have to be battling for clean air when there are a lot of cars in front of you, and it’s hard to do,” he said. “But guys that are really good are able to do it really well, and that’s where they definitely excel. It’s a lot easier to make up two spots on a restart than it is to make up two spots under the green flag.

“Yeah, the restarts are very crucial, and it’s definitely something that I can do better.”

And in an even more honest bout of honesty, Zilisch further said, “I haven’t quite found too many things that I’ve excelled very well so far, but I’ve definitely had weekends where I’m like, ‘I’m not that far off.’ If I could find myself in fifth just one of these days, I feel like I can run there. It’s getting there that’s the tough part.

“We’ll keep working, and as a team, we have to be a little bit better. Trackhouse as a whole, we’re working really hard to try and get some speed in the cars. But even my teammates have had some better runs than I have. So, I can’t quite say too much about the cars because I know I can be doing better myself.”

Zilisch qualified 26th for his first Cup Series start at Bristol.