Connor Zilisch is ready to head to the Circuit of the Americas this weekend with unfinished business. Last year, his journey was split in two and he scored an Xfinity victory on Saturday, only to have his Sunday slip through his fingers. But now the focus shifts from what was lost to what lies ahead, the camp refusing to cry over spilled milk and instead keeping its eyes on the road.
It’s been a rough start to life in the Cup Series so far for the Track racing beginner. After two races, he has yet to reach the top 30 and is in 36th place in the standings. The pace was there in qualifying, but race day told a different story. For example, at the Daytona 500, he started the race from 23rd place before a multi-car accident on lap 85 ended his debut early and left him 33rd. Atlanta followed a similar pattern. After starting 31st, another pileup on lap 223 limited him to 30th place.
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Yet inside Camp No. 88, there’s not a panic button in sight, and they’re looking at the positives and building on them. The team intends to listen and continue to learn. During an appearance onNASCAR Crew Call with Todd Gordon and Steve Postteam leader Randall Burnett shed light on the atmosphere.
“I just thought he did a great job at Daytona and Atlanta. Some unfortunate circumstances didn’t get us the finish we needed. So he had good speed, got to the front in both races and did a great job. Just kind of a victim of circumstances in both of those cases,” he said.
Burnett underlines that reaching the Cup grid at 19 is no coincidence, and he knows that Zilisch is talented. But more than the raw rhythm, what matters most is how Zilisch deals with struggles. He listens, absorbs feedback, and speaks the language engineers need. In the garage, talking doesn’t come cheap, and if a driver can’t explain what the car does, the team is flying blind.
This is why the group refuses to hang everything on finishes. Cup races are a different beast, where the margins are thinner, the field is deeper and one misstep can quickly snowball. In Xfinity, a bad call can sometimes be corrected. In Cup, the door slams much faster. Burnett delved into the long game, walking Zilisch through the flow of the race, the layers of strategy and the chess match that plays out on a race.
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Preparation now begins well before the arrival of transporters. Each venue brings its own traps, from pit cycles to sudden changes in track position. Group No. 88 developed scenarios so that nothing would surprise the driver once the green fell. The first few races may have gone sideways, but the tape is showing progress. Zilisch handled traffic, pushed forward and kept his composure as chaos swirled around him.
Burnett was of the opinion that pilot n°88The speed is real, the composure is there, and the rest should follow if they keep working. The next step is to refine race management and turn raw races into results week after week.
This is also the objective of COTA. The team will try to give Zilisch a car he can build on and build his track position alongside him. Signs of speed have already appeared in the O’Reilly Auto Parts NASCAR Series, where he recently won the pole for Saturday’s race at COTA. The hope now is to maintain this pace during Cup qualifying and finally turn that promise into reward.
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