Trackhouse Racing’s Connor Zilisch stoked with 'crazy' die-cast of No. 87 Red Bull ahead of NASCAR Cup Series debut

NASCAR driver Connor Zilisch shared his reaction to the die-cast model of the No. 87 Red Bull-sponsored car ahead of his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) next month.

The Xfinity Series rookie is in his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports this year after making four starts with the team last year. Zilisch, 18, also joined Trackhouse Racing as a development driver and will race in the Cup Series for the first time on March 2. He reacted to the die-cast model, as the pre-orders opened and wrote on X:

"This is crazy. Thank you @redbull🙏"

Zilisch’s debut comes as part of Red Bull’s return to NASCAR after over a decade. The energy drink company has teamed up with Trackhouse Racing to sponsor five Cup Series races for Shane van Gisbergen in the No. 88 Chevrolet and Zilisch at COTA.

Zilisch also competed in the endurance race, Rolex 24 with Trackhouse at Daytona International Speedway in January.

'Seemed like every accident happened in front of me' - Connor Zilisch after Atlanta Xfinity race

Connor Zilisch started the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season with a 27th-place finish at Daytona after getting caught in a wreck. Last Sunday in Atlanta, he was involved in another wreck and ended up with a damaged door panel on the No.88 Chevy.

Zilisch started well but got caught in two crashes in the final part of the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and finished 34th. His JR Motorsports teammate and defending series champion Justin Allgaier finished second.

"Our WeatherTech Chevrolet was just a little bit too tight in the first two stages, but Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) made a couple of adjustments that really worked well. The car was handling well. I was just stuck in traffic and couldn’t go anywhere, but we had time to get to the front. A couple of guys spun in front of me but fortunately we just got a little body damage, nothing major," Zilisch said in a team statement.

"The second time we weren’t so lucky. I got hit in the right-side door and we weren’t able to continue. It seemed like every accident happened in front of me tonight. We will bounce back next week at Circuit of the Americas," he added.

Connor Zilisch started racing go-karts when he was five and won the Mini Rok World Championship in 2017.

The Charlotte, North Carolina native won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring in the LMP2 class last year. Zilisch also won his Xfinity debut race at Watkins Glen. He started from the pole position, led the most laps and became the driver in three years to win a debut race.