By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Connor Zilisch saw a potential first career Cup Series win — albeit an exhibition race — fade when he suffered a pit road penalty Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway.
Nearing the halfway point of the All-Star Race, Zilisch was running second when the Trackhouse Racing rookie took part in a full-field pit stop on lap 80.
That’s when the career-best performance took a blow when the No. 88 was hit with a penalty for equipment interference. That pushed Zilisch to the back of the field for the ensuing restart and well behind the race’s leaders of Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.
“It would have taken a lot to beat the [Nos.] 19 and 11, they were both really good,” Zilisch said. “Regardless, it was a really good day for Trackhouse and this No. 88 team. We needed a day like this where we had contending speed. It’s been a long year and moments of hope like this feel good.”
Indeed, the O’Reilly Series standout from 2025 has had a rough go in the Cup Series. Ranking 32nd in points, the 19-year-old is one of only four full-time drivers without a top-10 finish in 2026.
But on Sunday, he raced like a frontrunner. The reason?
“I don’t really know what to point it to,” he said. “We still had some balance issues, but the potential was there. We had potential in our racecar. We have been working really hard, everyone at Trackhouse, to get that and to make it to where even on the bad days, we are still running decent.”
His first All-Star weekend started off backwards as he was one of many to spin out in Saturday’s qualifying session. Starting in the rear, Zilisch put up a strong average finish to qualify for the final 200-lap race.
“I knew it was a long race, I knew we had to get into the top 26 there and try to give ourselves a chance on the invert,” he said. “We were able to drive up to 11th in that first stage and continue to move forward in Stage 2. That’s when I really started to realize we had a shot.
“It was cool to be on offense for once and have good restarts and not feel like a fish out of water.”