Getting Connor Zilisch was an exciting prospect for Trackhouse Racing, but the team probably always knew it would lose the talented driver eventually. What they likely didn’t expect was to find out about his departure almost two years in advance. Zilisch will spend the 2027 season with Justin Marks’ organization before moving to Hendrick Motorsports. And while Marks understands the decision, the timing still stings.

“Every contract, whether it’s with an employee, a driver, a sponsor, when those contracts come up for renewal, there’s always a chance that, you know, they’re not, the relationship is not going to continue,” Marks admitted openly on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

“But, you know, I think the fact that it was announced so early has, you know, is problematic in some ways for us,” he added.

Marks and the organization now have to spend a year and a half working with a driver who they all know has a potentially brighter future panned out elsewhere.

Hendrick Motorsports broke the news on August 17 that Zilisch would take over the No. 48 from Alex Bowman, who will retire full-time from the Cup Series after 2027. This locked him in what many are claiming will be one of NASCAR’s most powerful driver lineups.

Zilisch is set to team up with Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and William Byron, all of whom already have quite a record to back them up. And Marks knows that for a youngster poised to achieve big things in the Cup Series, joining those ranks makes a lot of sense.

“And, you know, in my opinion, any young driver that is trying to make a career in NASCAR, when that driver gets a call from Rick Hendrick, that is not a, that is not a light moment,” the Trackhouse Racing owner continued.

There is a reason Hendrick wanted him that badly. Zilisch has already shown unusual range for his age. He won the FIA Karting Academy Trophy, took LMP2 wins at both the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring, then won 10 races and gave 18 straight top-five finishes in the 2025 O’Reilly Series campaign.

Trackhouse signed him as a teenager, with the NASCAR community expecting big things from him. But life in the Cup Series has been tough, and Zilisch has spent much of 2026 dealing with crashes, DNFs, and an underperforming Trackhouse Chevrolet. He’s 34th in the standings, with just two races left until the Chase begins.

Yet, he has shown flashes of what he can really do when things go his way. He finished seventh at Sonoma earlier this year and 11th at Iowa two weeks ago. And Marks, seeing his progress, is happy for the North Carolina native.

“I mean, you know, I’m happy for Connor. I really am. It’s why we invested, you know, so much money and time in him and gave him an opportunity, you know, with Trackhouse,” he continued.

The decision is final for 2028, but Zilisch still has a lot of racing left with Trackhouse. He will finish the 2026 season and run the full 2027 schedule before making the move. That gives Marks time to enjoy what is still ahead rather than treating the rest of their time together like a farewell tour.

Trackhouse Racing has to hold on to its drivers

Zilisch’s departure would hurt any team, but for Trackhouse, it also raises a bigger question: Can the organization keep developing young stars without eventually watching bigger teams take them away?

Earlier this week, NASCAR journalist Jordan Bianchi pointed out that both Shane van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain are also attracting interest from teams around the garage. With both of their contracts set to expire after 2027, Trackhouse could be staring down the barrel of a major overhaul to its driver lineup.

2026 has been a difficult year for the team. It has won just two races, both thanks to van Gisbergen’s road-course exploits. But over the last two weekends, Trackhouse has shown signs of progress, with Chastain himself admitting that the team is gaining some much-needed momentum.

“I’ll just keep running in the top ten like we did tonight. That’s getting on base. I feel like if we’d have been doing this all summer, we’d be in a lot of different spots. So this is way above where the summer was. Of course we want more, but it’s a lot better,” he said after the Cook Out 400.

Chastain had finished 12th on the day, just one week after a P7 finish in Iowa. It may be a little too late for him to make the top 16 for the Chase, but as the team looks to make better strides for the coming year, this was an encouraging sign.

Van Gisbergen, who was also a rookie for Trackhouse in 2025 and won five races, holds the final Chase cutline spot at 16th right now, 50 points ahead of Ryan Preece in 17th. So as things stand, he’s the only one getting into the Chase.

Losing either driver would be a major blow for Trackhouse. It would also raise questions about the team’s ambitions.

Marks won’t want Trackhouse to become a team that develops drivers only to watch them leave for bigger organizations. They got Zilisch in and now he’s headed to Hendrick. They wouldn’t want to lose out on Chastain and SVG too.