SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The sting of losing the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship still lingers for Connor Zilisch three days later.
But the series’ 2025 Sunoco Rookie of the Year is still holding his head high a few dozen hours after his crushing loss.
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“I’ve come to terms with what’s happened,” Zilisch said Tuesday ahead of the 2025 NASCAR Awards. “And at this point, I can’t do anything about it, so there’s no reason to hang on to it. I mean, it’s life. Sun came up Sunday morning, and the world kept spinning.”
Zilisch drove the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to 10 wins, a record 18 straight top-five finishes, and, at one point, a record-tying four consecutive victories. Saturday night at Phoenix Raceway earned him another top five but not another win, with best friend Jesse Love instead winning the race and the championship driving the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, while Zilisch finished third.
“At the end of the day, I did everything I could,” Zilisch said. “And my team, the whole JR Motorsports group, we gave our all, and I don’t have any reason to be upset about what happened. Yeah, it stings. It sucks. But yeah, we did everything we could and we tried our best. If I walked out of that place knowing that I could have done something differently, then I probably would have been a little more upset. But I gave it my all. I did everything I could, and yeah, the result wasn’t meant to be.”
The close friendship between Love and Zilisch adds a unique twist to how Saturday’s title bout unfolded. Still, Zilisch made his way to Victory Lane to congratulate his friend on a career accomplishment on the championship stage.
“He did nothing wrong,” Zilisch said. “He asked me, he’s like, ‘are you mad at me?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t have any reason to be mad at you, dude. You’re not the one who created the situation. You just executed when you needed to.’ And I have no reason to be upset about that. Yeah, I celebrated with him and we had fun. I mean, it’s just part of it. I have no reason to be upset with him and hold it against him.”
Veterans around the NASCAR industry embraced Zilisch after his defeat, including now two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Larson and title runner-up Denny Hamlin.
“Kyle Larson texted me (Saturday),” Zilisch said. “And he just said, ‘This isn’t going to change your career. I know it sucks.’ And you know, he wrote me a nice message. Denny texted me that night, kind of similar. So yeah, I mean, there was a few people that reached out that it means a lot to hear from. Everybody I saw was really nice to me all weekend long. And it helps to have people who let you know that you still succeeded. But at the end of the day, the emotion is still the same. But yeah, it’s good to have that kind of peace of mind that people still believe in me and that that wasn’t really a life-changing moment for me.”
Zilisch had plenty of excellent days through his rookie NASCAR campaign. But on the cusp of heading to the NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing in 2026, Zilisch said experiencing the lows this year is what best prepares him for his jump to stock-car racing’s top level.
“Just learning how to deal with the bad days,” he said. “There’s gonna be a lot of them, and I think that just getting through those moments, staying true to yourself no matter what happens, I feel like it’s going to be good for me because next year, I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot more bad days than there were this year. This year, I was pretty lucky to have a lot of great days, and I feel like it’s gonna be good to have that kind of experience and just understanding of how to get through everything.”
The Mooresville, North Carolina, native made three Cup starts in 2025 in preparation for his leap to the series next year, racing at Circuit of The Americas, Charlotte Motor Speedway and EchoPark Speedway, where he earned a best finish of 11th. His plan for his rookie campaign is simply to learn, adding that he doesn’t have many expectations for what lies ahead.
“I just want to be a better driver in (November) than I was in Daytona in February,” Zilisch said. “And if I can do that, then I’d be pretty happy because the Cup Series is tough. It’s a whole different ball game. Everybody is really talented. All the teams are really good. It’s just a different level. So it’s going to take a little bit of time to figure it out, get used to it, but I’m just really excited for the opportunity.
“It’s really cool for me to be able to do this at my age and get the opportunity to go race in the highest level of our sport. I’m just going to go do my best and try and learn as much as possible and grow with my team. And hopefully by the end of the year, I feel like I’m in a pretty comfortable spot.”