Kevin Harvick weighs in Connor Zilisch Cup debut, predicts where he would've finished

Connor Zilisch didn’t get a chance to finish his NASCAR Cup Series debut at COTA over the weekend, but Kevin Harvick believes he could’ve notched a top ten if he wasn’t caught up in his teammate Daniel Suarez’s spin.

We now know that the 18-year old Trackhouse Racing star came home last in Austin, due to the damage he suffered when he plowed into Suarez, while a cloud of smoke prevented him from seeing the No. 99. Still, considering his lap times and the surge Zilisch was making, Harvick believes the wunderkind would’ve made a charge to the front. 

“I thought, based on Connor’s lap times, I thought he could have run in the middle of the top 10, P5 to P7, P5 to P8, somewhere right in that range, from a speed standpoint,” Harvick predicted, via Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. “I felt like it would’ve been the best racing experience that he’s ever got on a road course, back to front, because of the talent. Not really the passing.

“We’ve seen him be able to pass in everything he does. Racing against guys that are capable of achieving his caliber of performance.”

Even though it didn’t end the way Zilisch would’ve liked, he still impressed Harvick, along with the rest of the Cup Series’ best. As impressive road racers, like Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen, try their hand at the top level of NASCAR, Harvick believes it’s just going to push everyone to improve. He’s predicting many wheelmen will even study the duo to upgrade their own abilities. 

“When you see the SVGs and Connor Zilisch and the elite road-racing level guys coming to the sport, they have this ability to perform well. But typically with our guys that race week-to-week, they study and get better. These road racers that are here consistently now, they’ll study the crap out of Zilisch and all the things that happened this weekend,” Harvick added.

“We heard Christopher Bell talk on our interview this week about going back and studying some things that he wasn’t doing very well leading into the race that he cleaned up. As we’ve seen with SVG — I feel like he’s made all those Chevrolet guys better. He’s made his teammates better. The Hendrick guys were already good, but pretty soon they all catch up.

“So, I think for Zilisch, that would’ve been the best experience that he’s got. He got experience in the car. I still think he performed at an elite level for his experience and background and everything that he has going on, but I really would have liked to see him be able to race with those front guys and just get that experience, because he’s really not had too many challenges from multiple guys.

“… Very rarely has he been around a group of guys that are ten guys that can achieve the speed and things that go with road racing.”

All told, the future is bright for Connor Zilisch in the NASCAR Cup Series, and many will be counting down the days until he’s a full-time wheelman at the top level. Kevin Harvick is ready to see how the highly-touted prospect does against the top competition in the sport, and it’s evident that’s coming sooner than later after his debut at COTA.