Kevin Harvick tells Connor Zilisch backstory, heaps praise on 18-year old wunderkind
Kevin Harvick watched along in awe of Connor Zilisch’s performance at Watkins Glen, as the 18-year old drove to Victory Lane during his first ever Xfinity Series race.
During the latest episode of his Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour show, Harvick tried to put Zilisch’s talent and potential into perspective, explaining why the sky is the limit for the wunderkind in NASCAR moving forward.
“I think with Connor, he has an extreme road racing background, with everything that he has done and, you know, we kind of found Connor in carts because Keelan was racing against him. … I think, in American racing, because Connor went to Europe and was successful in the karts, won races and competed over there, several times, but he realistically is one of those kids that could have succeeded at F1 from a road racing background standpoint,” Harvick explained. “I know we talk about [Kyle] Larson and the things that he can do in the car, but this kid, you know, is actually a kid that went to Europe, went through that system, beat a lot of their kids that are going through the their karting system, and through their open-wheel ranks, and just never had the opportunity to go and go through that that F1 route.
“But his road racing background, he’s already won the 24 Hours at Daytona. I mean, he’s won his first Xfinity race. He’s won five, six, seven — however many ARCA races he’s won this year. So, he’s got a bright future. I’m glad he’s in NASCAR, but definitely one of those kids that could have gone in any direction that he wanted to, because of his ability, and especially on the road course.”
Continuing, Harvick elaborated on his interactions with Zilisch growing up, as the youngster raced with Harvick’s son Keelan, revealing that Zilisch has always been a star in the making, even if his direction wasn’t always an obvious one.
“These kids raced with Keelan in a different class, so I learned a lot about these kids as we were just following along, watching them race, and they stick out like a sore thumb. Connor stuck out like a sore thumb, because he was just better than everybody else in the karts,” Harvick added. “So, as we got to the end of, you know, what I thought was the end of karting with Connor, and he started to go do some different things, I just asked his dad, I said, ‘What are you gonna do?’ He’s like, ‘Well, probably just send him to college, and we’ll go just run the Spec Miata and have some fun with his brother, because his brothers ran the Spec Miatas.’
“I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I think you might want to give him an opportunity,’ but yeah, Silver Hare Racing. … We got him his first test over there. I may have told this story on here, but he got his first test at Silver Hare the day before William Byron was there, and he went one second faster in the same car than William Byron at VIR, and that was kind of when Maurice [Hull], who owns Silver Hare Racing, was like, ‘Can he race? When can he race?’
“So anyway, that’s kind of where it all kicked off, was Maurice giving him a shot in the Silver Hare Trans Am car, and one thing led to another, just off of pure results that Connor had.”
The rest of the motorsports world might be hearing about Connor Zilisch now, but Kevin Harvick always knew he was destined for stardom, and you can bet he’ll be following along with his career moving forward.