Connor Zilisch is about to hitch the Cup Collection this season and compete among the many sport’s elite. He’ll take command of the No. 88 Chevrolet and accomplice with highway course specialist Shane van Gisbergen, a driver who is aware of him effectively.
The pair squared off in quite a few Xfinity Collection battles, partaking in fierce wheel-to-wheel racing as they traded wins. They have been teammates at JR Motorsports all through the 2025 season and now reunite at Trackhouse Racing for the 2026 Cup Collection marketing campaign.
Van Gisbergen totally understands the depth of expertise the younger driver possesses. Throughout a latest dialog with Speedcafe, he shared his perspective on Zilisch competing on the Cup Collection stage. When requested whether or not he expects Zilisch to match his efficiency within the Cup Collection, SVG didn’t hesitate: “Oh, in fact.”
“It’s laborious leaping between the vehicles as they’re so completely different, and as I discovered final yr doing the one-off races, it’s laborious with a part-time workforce. You’re not with the identical guys each week. And, the automotive’s nonetheless ready. Like, it was nonetheless precisely the identical as my automotive setup-wise, however it’s simply completely different,” he added.
Elaborating on the educational facet of issues, he continued, “You’re not used to the automotive, and once more, you leap in, and it’s a brief follow straight into qualifying, and when you’re buried within the pack, it’s laborious to get by means of. So, yeah, I’m positive this yr racing it each week, he’ll undoubtedly be up the entrance.”
“He’s an unreal expertise… The event of him at his age is so spectacular, you recognize, with the simulators and the quantity of racing that they do over right here.”
A number of cases show his evaluation proper. Throughout their Xfinity Collection clashes, when Zilisch competed full-time and SVG drove part-time for JR Motorsports, their battles produced memorable finishes. For instance, on the Chicago Road Course in July 2025, SVG fended off a late cost from Zilisch to say victory.
The subsequent week at Sonoma Raceway, Zilisch returned the favor, as he held off SVG in a duel to bag his third NASCAR win and snap SVG’s highway course successful streak. Then, at Watkins Glen in August 2025, the 2 made contact whereas scrapping for the lead late within the race, sending SVG right into a spin that dropped him to the again whereas Zilisch sailed to victory.
Zilisch has logged simply three Cup Collection begins to date and managed just one top-20 end, which got here at Atlanta. He possible wants time to acclimate to Subsequent Gen vehicles, although he already is aware of the tracks intimately.
SVG acknowledged, questioning how Zilisch would have fared had he continued down the single-seater path, but praised what Chevy accomplishes with him as phenomenal younger expertise. Zilisch’s development at simply 18 years outdated, Zilisch is certainly among the many finest younger abilities in NASCAR at this level, though he nonetheless has appreciable studying forward.
