The person who started the weekend on the brightest note ended up stumbling enormously. Connor Zilisch, the 19-year-old star who joined Trackhouse Racing’s ranks this year, was looking forward to a road course race. The Circuit of the Americas is where he clinched one of his 10 trophies in the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts season. But not only did Zilisch not defend his OAPS crown, but he also lost any hope for it in the Cup Series.
Another rival confounds Connor Zilisch’s chances
“Yeah, got wrecked again in Turn 1. So I don’t know if I need to do something different. But, yeah, just one of those days,” Connor Zilisch told Frontstretch after the DuraMax Grand Prix race. “I saw one of them. You know, Suarez was right behind me. Just looked like he squared up and hit me. The second one, I was already in the corner. I don’t know what happened there.”
Connor Zilisch indeed faced double trouble at COTA. Despite clinching the pole for the Focused Health 250 race, he washed up in 21st place while Shane van Gisbergen won the race. A part of his misfortune was caused by Hendrick Motorsports driver Corey Day sending Zilisch’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevy spinning. That was on Saturday; on Sunday, Zilisch found himself in trouble again.
“I feel like I drove one of the best races I’ve ever driven and we finished 14th.”
Welcome to the Cup Series, @ConnorZilisch! pic.twitter.com/gAdVUAECs2
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 2, 2026
The No. 88 Chevy driver ran in the top ten for a huge chunk of the race. At times, fans expected a showdown between Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen, both teammates. However, at the start of Stage 2, Daniel Suarez, who joined Spire Motorsports this year after leaving Trackhouse, made contact with Zilisch’s car. As a result, he locked up in turn 1 and spun on the restart. He went from the top 15 to last.
“F*** Suarez, dude,” Connor Zilisch said on his radio, as reported by Dustin Albino.
These multiple clashes with rivals left the young speedster visibly rattled. Nevertheless, Connor Zilisch gleaned the positive update from his wreck-riddled COTA weekend. He rallied back to finish 14th in the COTA Cup Series race despite the setbacks.
“I feel like I drove one of the best races I’ve ever driven, and we finished 14th. So yeah, it sucks. Our Red Bull Chevrolet was fast all day. And we were putting ourselves in a spot there at the end, on that last caution in Stage 3 to go have a chance to win the race.”
“As a race car driver, I’m not satisfied, but I showed that I can do it,” Zilisch added.
While Connor Zilisch nurses his wounds, a NASCAR veteran is confident about him.
Huge scope for the talented Cup rookie
Granted, it was far from an ideal road course racing weekend for Connor Zilisch. The speedster who has clinched 11 trophies in NASCAR’s second tier in a little over a year was left disappointed. Moreover, his Cup season started on a bitter note. At the Daytona 500, a multi-car wreck on Lap 85 ended his debut early and left him 33rd. Atlanta followed a similar pattern, as a pileup on Lap 223 limited him to 30th.
Connor Zilisch sits 32nd in Cup Series points after COTA – but his No. 88 team is not one to back down.
Randall Burnett, the team’s crew chief and NASCAR veteran, chose to see the glass as half full. He said ahead of COTA, “Just I thought he did a great job in Daytona and Atlanta. Just some unfortunate circumstances kind of didn’t get the finish that we needed. So, he had good speed, got towards the front of both races, and was doing a great job. Just kind of a victim of circumstance, in both those instances.”
Even after the COTA debacle, Burnett will surely be optimistic. After all, Connor Zilisch gave his best – now let’s see how he deals with the next race.
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