NASCAR CUP SERIES
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
APRIL 11, 2026
Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
How excited are you to leave the golf course to come here to the Last Great Colosseum? “Yeah, it’s two different places, that’s for sure. I’m excited for Bristol this weekend. This place is always special to race at. So, yeah, looking forward to running double duty and making my first Cup start here.”
Did you watch the Truck race last night because there was lots of conversations from like Ross (Chastain) and other people saying that tire wear didn’t matter at all. There was kind of uncertainty what’s going to happen tonight, as well as tomorrow…
“Yeah, I did watch it. It was very bottom dominant. You know, I’m not sure. I saw Corey (Heim) saying some stuff about excessive spray or whatever it may be, but they sprayed again this morning. So, yeah, I’m curious to see how it kind of trends and where it goes. But, yeah, certainly it was very bottom dominant; not a lot of tire wear and just kind of follow the leader. Hopefully we can get it widened out. The O’Reilly cars usually tend to do a better job of getting it wider. So, yeah, we’ll see what happens tonight.”
We’re coming toward a part of the schedule where you had a lot of success last year in the O’Reilly Auto Parts series. Does that give you more confidence as we go into the summer and we start moving toward tracks where you may have more good vibes?
“Yeah, I mean, I think I knew that it was going to be tough to start. So, yeah, it was kind of the same deal last year where it started slow, and as the year went on and I got more and more comfortable, things started to get better and better. So, yeah, I’m excited to see what this next stretch of the season holds; how it treats me, how we can improve and grow as a team and hopefully start getting some better finishes.”
Through this first quarter of the year, have you gotten a good grip on your positives and negatives behind the wheel, what you have to improve on and where short tracks fall in that? From the outside, we didn’t see a lot of negatives from last year, so how has that been so far throughout this year?
“Yeah, I mean, I think I’ve got room to improve everywhere, to be honest. I wouldn’t pinpoint one or the other, but honestly, one of the toughest parts about it is just the fight that you have every single week when you get stuck down deep in the qualifying order. And then, you’re going out early to qualify, you don’t qualify great and you start at the back. It makes it really, really tough on race day to not go a lap down in Stage One, and you kind of just get stuck in this cycle and it’s really, really tough to break out of it. I’ve always heard people talk about how the qualifying order makes things tough, but it really does. I mean, it’s really hard when you qualify 28th, 30th, 25th to not go a lap down in Stage One, man. The leaders catch you so fast. That’s probably the toughest part of it is trying to get a later qualifying spot so you can have a decent track to lay a good lap down. I think today is a better example. Bristol isn’t quite as dependent on where you go out to qualify. Actually, some of the guys who’ve qualified in the pole here have went out relatively early, so hopefully we can have a good day in qualifying. Just staying on the lead lap in Stage One is everything in these Cup races. They’re so long, and you go a lap down and without some luck with cautions, it’s a really long day.
So yeah, I wouldn’t pinpoint one track type or the other. I would say I’ve got room to improve everywhere, but it’s just going to take time and I knew that coming in.”
On a lighter note, Noah Gragson and Zane Smith were questioning your surfer prowess, and I’m wondering how does a Carolina kid learn how to surf?
“I haven’t ocean surfed much. I’ve done a lot of wake surfing in my time of just surfing behind a boat. When you go out to the ocean and you’re chasing waves and having to swim for waves, it certainly makes you work a lot harder. When you’re behind a boat, you just hold onto the rope and it drags you along. But yeah, it was cool getting to go surfing out west for the off week a little bit with Noah (Gragson). I always have a good time just getting away from this stuff for a weekend, and then you get past the weekend and you’re ready to get back going to it. So yeah, it was good to get a weekend off and have some time to focus on myself and just trying to not think about this stuff too much.”
When a driver is making the move into the Cup Series, one of the things they’re usually told, and you said this was told to you, is that you’re going to be racing your guts out and think you’re making progress, and then you’re 25th on the leaderboard, right? I’m curious if you have found that? Have you found yourself working so hard, and then you’re told where you’re running in the pack, and it’s like how can that be?
“Yeah, I mean I certainly, last year I found myself feeling like it was pretty easy to run inside the top-five. There’d be days where I led the race and I didn’t feel like I was having to work that hard to do it Now, I feel like it’s 500 laps every week of just racing as hard as I possibly can for 22nd. It’s like, man, I feel like I should be running better than this. But, yeah, it’s just the competition level is so much higher on Sunday’s. Every time you see somebody go down and run a Truck or an O’Reilly race, you see the skill difference, and it’s a true thing. I don’t think people on the outside quite realize that. But, yeah, everybody on Sunday’s is really, really good. It makes it very challenging, but it’s very rewarding, as well.”
Do you feel like you’ve put in enough laps in time that you’re starting to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses behind the wheel are, or maybe like what the team’s strengths and weaknesses are, or is it still too early to tell?
“Yeah, I think one thing I could say I can do better at is restarts, for sure, just positioning. You know, this car is a lot different. The fact that you have to find yourself in different spots on restarts to move forward and you always got to be battling for clean air when there’s a lot of cars in front of you, it’s hard to do, but the guys that are really good are able to do it really well. That’s where they definitely excel, on restarts. It’s a lot easier to make up two spots on a restart than it is to make up two spots under green. So, yeah, the restarts are very crucial, and it’s definitely something I can do better. But, you know, I haven’t quite found too many things that I’ve excelled at very well, so far. I’ve definitely had weekends where I’m like, man, I’m not that far off. If I could find myself in fifth just one of these days, I feel like I could run there. It’s just getting there is the tough part.
We’ll keep working. Just as a team, we’ve got to be a little bit better. Trackhouse as a whole, we’re working really hard to try and get some speed in the cars. But, you know, even my teammates have had some better runs than I have, so I can’t quite say too much about the cars because I know that I can be doing better myself.”
Do you think the true test will come when you get to tracks for a second time and, you know, what your improvement level is on each of those venues?
“Yeah, I definitely think that as the year goes, I should continue to get better, grow and start having better finishes, going back to places for the second time. It’s very tough when you go out to qualify at a track for the first time in this car. I feel like it was a lot easier to find the limit of the racecar in the O’Reilly car last year. You felt the yaw angle, and you’re like, alright, this is it, and you kind of just put it there and go. Whereas this car is a little bit tougher. It’s a lot more knife’s edge and it’s a lot scarier to put it on the limit in qualifying. You’re going a little bit quicker, but it’s just a lot more of a razor edge in the Cup car. So, yeah, it’s definitely going to take some time to figure out these tracks, coming in here for the first time. But yeah, the biggest thing is I just need to qualify better. I haven’t had one qualifying lap this year where I’ve been like, man, I feel like I nailed that and that was all it had. I always feel like I leave some to be desired in qualifying. At the end of the day, your weekend on Sunday’s starts with how you qualify on Saturday, and it’s a lot more crucial than I realized it was going to be.”
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