Denny Hamlin blown away by Connor Zilisch maturity, potential: 'I could be this kid's father'

Connor Zilisch acquitted himself well at COTA in his NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday, even if the final result didn’t show it.

Zilisch ran some of the fastest laps throughout the field but finished last — 37th — after crashing into Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez on Lap 50. No, not the way Zilisch wanted his Cup debut to end. But for an 18-year-old, being a part of the field Sunday was a big accomplishment. And after winning Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, his second victory in seven starts on the circuit — the weekend was still a success for Zilisch.

Denny Hamlin can see the talent in Zilisch. The Cup veteran paid compliment to the youngster on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

“He made some mistakes,” Zilisch said. “We all recognize that, but I still feel for an 18-year-old — I mean for God’s sake, I could be this kid’s father, that’s how crazy this world is right now that I could be his father — but for an 18-year-old, he is so far further advanced as a motorsports driver than I was when I was 18. It’s not even remotely close. I think I was probably running third or fourth in four-cylinder mini stocks at that age.”

These mistakes, as Hamlin mentioned, came in the Xfinity race. With Zilisch and Corey Heim fighting for position in the final stage, Zilisch slammed into Heim and knocked him off course. Zilisch’s No. 88 Chevrolet sustained damage, but that wasn’t enough to slow him down. He latter battled with JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil and eventually held off William Byron for the win.

Zilisch admitted he didn’t run a clean race and took responsibility for some of the mistakes he made.

Connor Zilisch admits he made mistakes in Xfinity win at COTA

“That was way harder than I wanted it to be,” Zilisch said after the race. “I did not drive a clean race at all. … I was kind of mentally fogged halfway through that race. I made way too many mistakes. … Was glad we were able to fight back.”

This is all part of the learning process for Zilisch. To learn a lesson while winning? There’s not a better scenario, Hamlin said.

“It tells you he’s got a good conscience,” Hamlin said. “We saw what he felt in that moment, but it’s good that he kind of recognized it. He doesn’t need to let it hamper the celebration of the win. You still want to be excited because of the accomplishment that you had. You’ve won two Xfinity races now — that’s something to hold your head high about.

“But obviously, it was almost a perfect scenario that he had a learning moment but still got the win. Usually, learning moments come with failure where, ‘Ah shit, I made a mistake and then I paid the price and didn’t win because of that mistake.’ He made a mistake and now it cost others but to me, it was the perfect balance for him to advance his maturity on the track.”