Connor Zilisch
2026 Season: NASCAR Cup Series
Through September 19, 2026 · 1889 pts behind leader
Roles
- Driver, Trackhouse Racing
Coverage (15 articles)
Sheldon Creed Won the Chase Opener at Darlington. Justin Allgaier's Lead Went From 25 Points to Seven.
Creed led the final 53 laps and won Saturday night's Fleetio 200 by 2.961 seconds, his second career win in the series. Allgaier led more laps than anyone, hit the wall with 23 to go and finished 17th. His championship lead, 229 points in August and 25 after the Chase reset, is now seven.
Corey Heim Just Won the Brickyard 400. His Cup Points Total Is Still Zero.
Heim held off Christopher Bell by 0.287 seconds at Indianapolis and led more laps than anyone in the field. He is the defending Truck Series champion, declared for points in that series, and the official scoring report credits him with nothing in Cup.
Brandon Jones Started 29th and Led 12 Laps at Chicagoland. He Also Won.
Brandon Jones started 29th at Chicagoland, led 12 of 201 laps, and won the Cuervo 300 in overtime, the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series' first extra-lap finish of 2026. Chase Elliott and Connor Zilisch led 126 laps and won both stages between them. They left with zero points.
William Byron Won Everything at Chicagoland Except the Race
William Byron swept both stages at Chicagoland and led 94 laps, more than anyone else on the grid. He finished fourth. Chase Briscoe led the final 46 laps, beat Christopher Bell by 0.276 seconds, and gave Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2-3 in NASCAR's first Cup race at the track since 2019.
Shane Van Gisbergen Won at Sonoma on Saturday. He Won at Sonoma on Sunday. Here Is What That Means.
Shane Van Gisbergen won two races at Sonoma in two days. On Saturday, the trophy was decorative. On Sunday, it rearranged the Cup standings.
Justin Allgaier Has Five Wins and the Points Lead. The One Thing Missing Is a Road Course, and They're About to Run Out.
Justin Allgaier has five wins, the points lead, and the best average finish in the O'Reilly Series. The one thing he hasn't done is win a road course, and Saturday's Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at Sonoma is the last one of the season.
NASCAR and the Rolling Stones Made a Deal. The Gimmick Has a Real Idea Underneath It.
NASCAR and the Rolling Stones announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration this week: co-branded merch, two collector vinyl pressings of the new album Foreign Tongues, and a listening-lounge show car touring Chicago. It reads like a cash grab. The idea underneath it is real.
Justin Allgaier and JR Motorsports Take Their Dominance to a San Diego Street Course Nobody Has Run
Justin Allgaier has already clinched the Chase, JR Motorsports has won 11 road races in a row, and the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series has never been more lopsided. This weekend it races a San Diego street course nobody has ever lapped, where all that homework counts for nothing. Saturday, 5 p.m. ET on the CW.
Hamlin Wins the Million From the Pole at Dover. The Million Goes to Mama.
Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR All-Star Race from the pole at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe in a side-by-side fight to the line, and became the third driver in the sport's history to win the All-Star at multiple tracks. Asked what he'd do with the $1 million check, he said he'd give it to his mother, a line that landed harder given his father's death in a December fire. The Cup field heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway next for the Coca-Cola 600.
Honeycutt Beats Zilisch and SVG for His First Truck Win at The Glen
Kaden Honeycutt won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday at Watkins Glen, and did it by beating Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen, the two drivers who have dominated NASCAR road courses for two years. He also won the ARCA race at the same track earlier the same day, becoming the second driver in history to sweep both. Honeycutt now leads the Truck Series championship by 29 points.
Denny Hamlin Opens The CW's O'Reilly Series Booth Rotation at Charlotte. Five More Cup Drivers Are Booked Behind Him.
The CW is running its Cup-driver guest-analyst rotation again for six O'Reilly Series races, and Denny Hamlin opens it at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Five more Cup drivers, Zilisch, Chastain, Allmendinger, Busch, Wallace, are booked behind him.
Corey Day's Final Lap Was the Only One. Now Texas.
Corey Day won Talladega last Saturday by leading exactly one lap, the last one, for Hendrick Motorsports. Six days later, the same Concord-Mooresville pipeline runs at Texas, with Kyle Larson in the JR Motorsports No. 88, Connor Zilisch in the No. 1, and Austin Dillon in the Richard Childress No. 3. Three Cup drivers, the final Dash 4 Cash of 2026, and Justin Allgaier with a stage-points pace nobody has hit since Denny Hamlin in 2021.
William Byron Returns to the Team That Built Him — for One Night in Kansas
Saturday night, Byron runs the No. 88 for JR Motorsports. Sunday afternoon, he's in the No. 24 for Hendrick Motorsports. Same Kansas weekend, same Charlotte story, thirty miles on either end of I-77.
JR Motorsports Put Four Cars in the Top Five at Bristol. That Doesn't Happen by Accident.
JR Motorsports placed four entries in the top five at Bristol. The Mooresville operation's organizational depth, from Rodney Childers' strategy call to the talent corridor that feeds it, is the real story of the Suburban Propane 300.
He Won at Hickory First. Now William Sawalich Has Won at The Rock.
William Sawalich won his first O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday, becoming the youngest winner in track history in his 42nd career start. The nineteen-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver charged from 14th to lead 80 laps, outlasting Corey Day's dominant early effort that faded on tire wear.