How Kyle Busch made Zilisch’s first Chevy drivers meeting memorable

Connor Zilisch got a taste for the Rowdy side of Kyle Busch in his first Chevrolet driver’s meeting earlier this season.

Zilisch, a rookie at Trackhouse Racing, attended such an OEM meeting for the first time in February, before the Daytona 500. All three manufacturers usually get their competitors together ahead of superspeedway races to emphasize teamwork or go over strategy and other such information. One of the most important variables is pit road and fuel mileage.

On that note, Zilisch wanted to know what the plan was for the Chevrolet drivers if they were the last group of OEM drivers to pit. Should they block the track and try to maintain their position after the cycle, he wanted to know.

“I asked that question – it was the end of the meeting – and everybody kind of went silent,” Zilisch remembered Saturday. “Nobody was answering me, and Kyle spoke up, and he goes, ‘No, just get the (expletive) out of the way.’ It was my first time in one of these meetings, I’m a rookie, and I’m just like, ‘OK. Yeah. Sorry.’ I was so embarrassed.

“But that is just who Kyle was; he was unapologetically himself. Some people didn’t like him, some people liked him, but everybody respected him, and that’s the Kyle we’ll remember.”

Zilisch only got to run 15 races in the Cup Series with Busch as a competitor. They were also in one Craftsman Truck Series race together last year at Watkins Glen.

While the two might have only been brief competitors, the 19-year-old Zilisch, who was born when Busch was a sophomore driver in the Cup Series, undoubtedly followed Busch’s career. Busch was a draw for both his on-track success and off-track antics. And his talent and accomplishments likely envied by many professional drivers.

The memory Zilisch shared about Daytona was categorized as a funny Busch memory. The other memory, which he described as a good one, happened at the end of last season.

“He texted me after I lost the (O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) championship last year and just told me how proud he was of me, and how far I’d come, and that meant a lot,” Zilisch said. “He didn’t have to reach out and do that, and he wrote a few paragraphs and just kind of gave me some confidence after what was a really tough day for me.

“So, that one meant a lot.