Rookie Connor Zilisch scored his first ever NASCAR Cup Series top-five finish in the All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday. Though the race doesn’t award points and thus isn’t reflected in Zilisch’s season statistics, his fifth-place was a sorely needed breakthrough for the 19-year-old phenom.
“We needed a day like this where we had contending speed,” Zilisch said. “It’s been a long year and moments of hope like this are good.”
Adjusting to Cup
In the dozen races prior to the All-Star Race, Zilisch’s No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team went without so much as one top-ten finish. Though Trackhouse as a whole is noticeably off-pace from prior years, his teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen have been able to score two and three top-tens respectively. Last week van Gisbergen gave the team their first win of the season at Watkins Glen International.
Though Zilisch had top-five speed at Circuit of the Americas and Watkins Glen, hard luck prevented the No. 88 team from taking advantage in either race. Zilisch is 32nd in the points standings, now a long shot to qualify for the Chase in his rookie season.
Expectations for Zilisch were sky-high following his dominant 2025 season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Driving for JR Motorsports, Zilisch commanded ovals and road courses alike for a ten-win campaign that landed him one spot short of the championship. Growing pains after a Cup Series promotion are perfectly normal, but it’s been an adjustment seeing Zilisch battle for top-20 finishes one year after he scored 18 consecutive top-fives. Something about Dover seemed bring out the Zilisch of last year.
What Changed at Dover?
Connor Zilisch won his lone O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start at Dover last year, the second win in a string of seven in eight races. NASCAR provided the field with a high-horsepower, low-downforce package which appeared to make passing easier throughout the field Sunday.
“Just the grip [made a difference],” he said after the race Sunday. “I don’t really know what to point it to. We still had some balance issues. But just the potential was there. We had potential in our race car and we’ve been working really hard, everyone at Trackhouse, to get that and make it to where even on the bad days we’re still running decent. I feel like we had that today. We had potential and room to grow.”
Additionally, the application of resin to the racing surface appeared to activate several viable grooves at once. Though fans were sharply divided on the All-Star Race format, the quality of racing drew largely positive feedback. As he suggested himself, it appeared this different style of racing may have been better-tailored to Zilisch’s skill-set.
