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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — As sleet pelted Bowman Gray Stadium during NASCAR’s preseason warm-up race, multiple drivers complained about poor visibility and the wet track conditions.
One of them — the youngest driver in the field — hit the button on his radio and grumbled it was time to get back to racing no matter the conditions.
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“We’re professional race car drivers — it’s our job to go figure it out,” 19-year-old Connor Zilisch radioed to his team.
The teenager is the most hyped rookie to the elite Sprint Cup Series in decades. There was Kyle Busch in 2003, who had already been promoted by his Hall of Fame brother, Kurt, who famously said “if you think I’m good, wait until you see my brother.” Busch had been ready to go for two years, but a rule was passed that raised the minimum age to compete at the top level to 18, and he was forced to wait — which only built the anticipation.
Joey Logano followed in 2008 hyped by Hall of Famer Mark Martin’s praise that the Connecticut youngster was “the best thing since sliced bread.” Like Busch, he also had to wait until he was 18 to debut.
And now comes Zilisch with expectations that some believe exceed Busch and Logano.
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“I would have to say Jeff Gordon, honestly,” AJ Allmendinger said of the four-time NASCAR champion who was 20 in his first Cup Series season in 1992. “There was Joey and the whole ‘Sliced Bread’ thing, but I think straight-up hype? Connor is the deal and has already delivered. He’s jumping in everything and performing at very high levels.”
Zilisch will make his Daytona 500 debut on Feb. 15 — four years after attending the race for the very first time. He was fairly new to racing at the time, had very few connections, and sat in the grandstands with tickets as a regular fan as Austin Cindric won as a rookie.
“I think it’s very cool that people think that highly of me, when you are getting compared to Kyle Busch and Joey Logano there’s nothing to complain about, they have five Cup championships between them,” Zilisch told The Associated Press. “If I can have a career half as good as either of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/teen-sensation-connor-zilisch-most-193911304.html
Author : JENNA FRYER
Publish date : 2026-02-05 19:39:00
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