NASCAR Cup Series driver Shane Van Gisbergen's streak of five consecutive road course wins ended last Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, where he finished second to Tyler Reddick. Viewed by some as the best road-course driver in NASCAR history, he may soon get a challenger.
In the latest episode of "Actions Detrimental" coming from COTA, Denny Hamlin shared his belief that Van Gisbergen's "road course supremacy" will soon be shared by 19-year-old Cup Series driver Connor Zylisch.
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"I think SVG is going to keep company in the road-course dominance bracket. It appears Zylisch is really, really there... I mean he's already got to pass the race craft and build speed... As the weekend went on, he got better and faster. I think we're going to be talking about him, certainly for a handful of races here where we're racing left and right. Will turn."
Denny Hamlin on Conor Zylisch's ability to challenge street driving, Shane van Gisbergen
Heading into the NASCAR schedule at Phoenix this weekend, Zylisch has the fifth-fewest points (37) among full-time drivers in the Cup Series. That doesn't tell the whole story about how well the rookie has been driving the No. 88 car this season for Trackhouse Racing.
While Zylisch finished 33rd in the Daytona 500, he was actually running third on Lap 85 when the car spun slightly and was then involved in a major wreck. The following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Zylisch was sixth on the restart on Lap 93 and eighth on Lap 135 before falling back to 30th after getting stuck behind some debris.
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However, the real standout performance came last week at COTA. The No. 88 car struggled in practice and qualifying, resulting in the team starting 25th on Sunday. To his credit, Zilisch made his way into the top 10 at the start of Stage 2. Unfortunately for Trackhouse, he spun in Turn 1 at the start of Stage 2 after being dumped by Daniel Suarez while passing the field No. 88 as it sat sideways.
Remarkably, Zylisch once again moved through the field with one of the fastest cars of the day. Unfortunately, misfortune struck him again in the final stages. In the same Turn 1 with 17 laps to go, Hamlin caused Zillisch's second spinout when the No. 11 spun into the back of William Byron and effectively pushed the No. 24 into the other cars, resulting in Zillisch's car spinning.
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Zillisch suddenly found himself back in 32nd place with only 16 laps remaining. He was looking at the possibility of finishing outside the top 30 for the third consecutive race. Instead, he showed his mastercraft on the road courses by maneuvering through the field and moving up to 24th with 10 laps to go, moving up to 17th on the final lap and ultimately finishing the day in 14th.
By the end of the day, Zilisch had made 56 passes throughout the race and finished the day with a more respectable 23 points. He was one of the most impressive drivers so far at COTA on Sunday, showing that he was the only driver at any level last season who could consistently keep pace with SVG on road courses.
The 19-year-old is showcasing his magical skills on the roadways, which can only be matched by someone who is 36 years old and has much more driving experience. Given the year-to-year improvement SVG has shown on ovals since the start of last season, Zylisch's career trajectory could make him one of the best drivers in NASCAR in just a few years. Until then, he'll battle SVG to become the best road-course driver in NASCAR this season and beyond.
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