A big divisive subject in NASCAR is allowing Cup drivers to race in the O’Reilly or the Truck Series. Those who are against it argue that it makes the racing unfair. Those who support it argue that it has benefits for both tiers of drivers. Kevin Harvick belongs to the latter group, and Connor Zilisch recently proved why.
Connor Zilisch proves Kevin Harvick’s point about Cup drivers racing in O’Reilly Series
During an episode of the Happy Hour podcast after Phoenix last year, Kevin Harvick spoke about why Cup drivers should race in the O’Reilly and the Truck Series. The 2014 Cup Series winner recalled a time in his career when he was at RCR struggling in his early years.
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“That’s how you kept yourself relevant. And that shows that your cars aren’t where they need to be on Sunday because you’re beating the same guys. You’re beating Mark Martin, you’re beating Jeff Burton, you’re beating whoever else is in that race. And as a young driver, you have to have something to show where you are, what that measuring stick is,” Harvick explained.
A big example of Harvick’s point on a struggling Cup driver keeping himself relevant by racing in the lower series is Connor Zilisch. The rookie driver has struggled in the Cup Series with Trackhouse, but won at Bristol in Saturday’s O’Reilly Series race.
“It was good to kind of prove to myself that I can do it still and that I haven’t completely lost all the talent that I have. So, yeah, it was reassuring for sure to go back and at least get some confidence and remember kind of who I am because that Sunday racing will take it away from you really quick and it’ll chew you up and spit you out. And it’s good to at least be able to get a little confidence from a win on Saturday,” Zilisch recently claimed.
Kevin Harvick pointed out that a Cup driver beating other Cup drivers in an O’Reilly race would help him understand where he stands as a driver. For Zilisch, that was also the case because in the Bristol race, he beat defending Cup champion Kyle Larson.
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Interestingly, at the Cup level, the difference between Zilisch and Larson is huge. While Larson is 6th in the standings, Zilisch is way down in 33rd.
So, as the young Trackhouse driver admitted to gaining confidence from his win, it’s not hard to imagine why that is the case, considering how his rookie season has turned out so far.
NASCAR veteran has a piece of advice for Zilisch
In the 2025 Xfinity season, Connor Zilisch won 10 races. This resulted in everyone having high expectations for his rookie season in the Cup for 2026. But 8 races into that rookie season, Zilisch hasn’t even had a single top 10 finish. In fact, six of his eight results have been outside the top 20.
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Zilisch’s first season in the Cup not being up to the expectations was something Denny Hamlin commented on his podcast post-Bristol.
“That’s my advice is that you just keep rowing the boat. Eventually, may the river flow and hit you in the a**, and you start going downriver. I don’t know. I think some of it comes with time,” said Hamlin. “I don’t know how much of it is Connor, how much of it is car. If his teammate were up there winning races and whatnot, I would throw more of a caution to the Zilisch thing, but I just think that they’re struggling as an organization right now, and I think they would admit that.”
It’s worth mentioning that just like Zilisch, Trackhouse’s star driver Ross Chastain has also underperformed. Apart from a top 5 finish at Atlanta, he hasn’t finished inside the top 10 even once.
Looking at the success he had in Bristol, Connor Zilisch might run additional O’Reilly Series races to gain some momentum. NASCAR is headed to Kansas, which is not an easy track to race in, and running the O’Reilly Series will certainly give him the boost needed to turn his Cup Series campaign around.
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