Following a ‘record-breaking’ run at the Circuit of the Americas, Connor Zilisch, the sport’s hottest new prospect, has also broken the news barrier in the world of NASCAR. With this sudden rise in fame, it is only normal to assume that the other racers didn’t know about him before his ‘piping-hot’ sprint.
However, Kyle Larson has not come out to recall his first meeting with ‘pole-sitter’ Connor Zilisch.
Kyle Larson lavishes praise on Connor Zilisch
On Friday, March 22, Kyle Larson and the youngster Connor Zilisch both entered the qualifying rounds of their upcoming NASCAR races this week and clinched pole positions at the end of their sessions. Their lap logging on the COTA tracks recorded Zilisch’s lap time (2:11.98) with his No. 7 Chevrolet truck being faster than Kyle Larson’s (2:12.08) lap time with his Xfinity car.
Connor Zilisch, who just debuted at the XPEL 250 qualifying run on Friday, soon captured Kyle Larson’s attention with his dominant display on his first run, after which the Hendrick Motorsports driver was full of praise for the debutant.
In the post-qualifying interview, the Californian expressed his admiration for Zilisch’s racing prowess, before recalling his first meeting with the Trackhouse Racing prospect.
For those who wonder whether truck pole-sitter Connor Zilisch is for real, I present this from Kyle Larson: "It'll be more of the same tomorrow as long as nobody runs through him." @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/wgMcT2gTaQ
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 23, 2024
Larson revealed that he knew Zilisch back from the youngster’s days as a development driver for Trackhouse Racing, where they worked closely through the Chevy program. Recalling those days, he started by saying, “I’ve heard you know through like Josh and Scott like there’s this kid that’s really good and you know he was by far the best out there.”
“I’ve been paying a lot of attention to him and then yeah, I’ve gotten to be around him a fair amount you know through the Chevy program and him at Josh’s and stuff,” he continued. “He’s 18, I guess, or whatever, but super mature and extremely good.”
While Larson was super impressed with Zilisch’s ‘record-breaking’ stat, he playfully revealed that he was ‘disappointed’ by the lap time, and hinted that the 17-year-old can ‘rocket’ faster than this time. “I’m disappointed he was only like 3/4 of a second faster than field and not more than that because I figured he would be”, he claimed.
Predicting another high-flying run from the teenager, he concluded, “I texted him earlier and said, you should smash the field this weekend. It’ll be more of the same tomorrow as long as nobody runs through him.”
These strong words of admiration from Larson come right after the ‘record-breaking’ debutant was heard reflecting on his dominant performance in his first attempt at the Circuit of the Americas.
Connor Zilisch reflects on record-breaking performance
Connor Zilisch, the 17-year-old American racer, really exploded his racing-prowess with an ‘unimaginable’ run in the first laps of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he cliched away the pole position.
In Friday’s qualifying session at Circuit of the Americas, Zilisch, driving the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, topped the leader’s board with a new COTA track record of 2 minutes, 11.983 seconds—almost three-quarters of a second faster than P2-sitter Corey Heim. This fiery run was noticeably faster than the senior racers, bringing out Zilisch’s ‘wow’ factor.
In the post-qualification interview, he revealed his excitement over his ‘record-breaking’ run by quoting, “I’m kind of blown away.
“Gotta hand it all off to Spire Motorsports and the truck that they brought. We had a really fast Chevy today and made my job really easy. Obviously, I’ve still got to go out there and not make mistakes but honestly, I feel like I could have driven that at 95% and still been able to get the pole.”
.@ConnorZilisch made his presence known in no uncertain terms by taking the pole for his @NASCAR_Trucks debut and breaking the @COTA track record in the process.
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) March 22, 2024
Hear from Zilisch as he speaks to the media after Friday's qualifying session. pic.twitter.com/fuKTw7KAfw
“It’s definitely not easy, right?” Zilisch said. “I’ve run so many different series and cars but honestly, I think that’s only making me a better race car driver, right?”
“We show up here with 15 minutes of practice and not a lot of time, but when I’m going to the truck it’s all new to me,” Connor Zilisch added.
“We’ve had this circled on the calendar for a long time, so yeah, it feels really good to have this starting off well. We got a good starting spot tomorrow, but there’s still a long way to go”, he concluded, reflecting on his good start.
Connor Zilisch will again take out his No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado at the Circuit of the Americas track for today’s XPEL 225, which will take place at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Can he really pull off an even faster lap time record in today’s XPEL 225? Or will he succumb to his nerves right before the race? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
