Connor Zilisch has crashed twice in 10 laps. Twice in one race. When Connor Zilisch burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2024, he generated a lot of hype. This is fairly normal for any young driver who has been impressive in the O’Reilly or Truck Series. So it didn’t take long before he earned a shot in the Cup Series, and 2026 is his full-time debut. Unfortunately, it has been a trial by fire for the #88 driver.

How bad has the campaign been for Connor Zilisch?

This year, Zilisch has yet to finish in the Top 10 in the last 15 races. He hasn’t become terrible, but the Cup Series has humbled him. Gen 7 cars demand adjustment. In the sense that he now knows that the Cup cars are wildly different from the O’Reilly Series cars. Because of that, he’ll need an adjustment period to get used to the Gen 7 car.

In light of this, Parker Kligerman spoke about Zilisch’s struggles with the #88 Trackhouse car. He told the Money Lap podcast, “Connor Zilisch, the young phenom. Tough couple of weeks. Only completed a very small amount of laps in the last 3 weeks. For Connor, I’m sure it feels like it’s the end of the world right now. It’s been such a tough start to his Cup career.”

One, he’s insanely young to be in the Cup Series,” he continued. “Two, the inevitable success that he will have, just with his skill and his talent. Especially with road courses upcoming, that sort of thing will make this seem like a funny blip on the radar. Right now, I get it; it probably feels like the end of the world. It was definitely tough to see some of his interviews where he’s so dejected.”

The thing is, it isn’t just the bad finishes, but it is also the fact that he is crashing a lot. At the last race in Michigan, he crashed twice within the span of 10 laps, the second one ending his race for good. According to Kligerman, the advantage that Zilisch has is his age, but his age is also working against him in terms of experience. That said, he has backed the #88 driver to bounce back stronger. Though he did acknowledge that Trackhouse Racing’s overall performance is not helping matters.

Will Zilisch live up to the wonder kid hype or turn out as a flop?

Connor Zilisch’s future hinges on two factors. First and foremost, Zilisch needs to get more experience and be more consistent with his results. Secondly, Trackhouse Racing needs to buckle up and improve its performance because Zilisch, Ross Chastain, and Shane van Gisbergen are suffering.

The Kiwi might be offsetting this with his road course prowess, but NASCAR doesn’t have a road course-heavy calendar. The good news is that van Gisbergen has been noticeably improving on ovals, but on the other hand, Ross Chastain is not performing up to par.

Connor Zilisch will now be hoping that Pocono might be the start of a change in fortune for him. Unfortunately for the 19-year-old, he has a huge climb ahead of him, all the way down in 28th place. However, Denny Hamlin has proven multiple times that it is possible to claw your way from the back and win. Then again, a win could sound a bit far-fetched for Zilisch, but he is definitely willing to give it a shot.

All he needs to do is stay clean, deliver consistent finishes, and rebuild confidence. After all, as Parker Kligerman said, all those poor races will weigh down on Zilisch, and he looks dejected outside the car.