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Following Connor Zilisch's win in his first NASCAR race at Watkins Glen, his crew chief spoke about what impressed him the most. Andrew Overstreet, the crew chief at the helm of the #88 JR Motorsports team, opened up on what makes Zilisch an exceptional talent in the up-and-coming generation of NASCAR drivers.
Speaking during an episode of Dale Jr. Download Reloaded podcast on September 19, Overstreet revealed that Zilisch took in a lot of the instructions he and his team had worked on throughout the season.
And his win at Watkins Glen last weekend only furthered the hype around him. However, according to Overstreet, what made Connor Zilisch stand apart was his tenacity and tendency to put his head down regardless of the noise around him. His crew chief detailed the young driver's mentality and said:
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"He took a lot of direction we'd already worked on throughout the year. Once we got to know each other, just don't let the moment take over and don't let the noise and hoopla surrounding his first start get in the way of what we're trying to accomplish. And the goal for last week was to just run all 82 laps and he did that. It's really easy for some of these kids, especially if you go and dominate in the ARCA race a day before thinking 'Oh I'm King Kong, I'm going to show up and beat all these guys too.' But he didn't have that mentality, he had a very calm seasoned mentality about him. He just showed up and got to work. And that's what our #88 group loves, doing our own thing, keeping quiet, and just doing our job," Overstreet said [2:25 onwards].
It's worth mentioning that Connor Zilisch has already been announced as the full-time Xfinity driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team for the 2025 season.
Why Connor Zilisch didn't pursue the Formula 1 path
During a conversation with his future boss, Dale Jr. on his podcast in August this year, Connor Zilisch explained why he didn't choose to pursue F1. Zilisch said that every kid that starts in go-karts eventually sees himself in F1 and climb the Formula ladder series. He revealed that his view was also the same until he was faced with the realities of following this path.
"I think the biggest thing for me was money. At the end of the day, to go race in Europe, there's no sponsors in the feeder series in Formula. It's a bunch of kids that are fortunate enough to get to go racing, whether it's family money or the people they know, they got the chance to go do that, and I never really had the opportunity," Connor Zillisch said (39:20).
Zilisch added that while he had discussions with Ferrari Driver Academy, but wasn't able to accrue the financial resources required for his F1 Career. Regardless, Connor Zilisch has established his footing in the NASCAR ecosystem now, even more so after his win at Watkins Glen.
As per Dale Earnhardt Jr., his future JRM driver has already shown glimpses of being an elite talent but added that his racecraft is yet to be tested on the ovals.
