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Brent Crews addresses confusion over Connor Zilisch, Jesse Love announcement

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated Aug 1, 2025 9:03 PM ET

Just moments before the green flag dropped for the ARCA Menards Series race at Iowa, Brent Crews was posting on social media. Crews was doing a bit of damage control after his big announcement today was misconstrued.

Brent Crews announced that he was starting his own Truck Series team with his first race set for Watkins Glen. It was originally, and incorrectly, reported that Connor Zilisch and Jesse Love were involved as “executives.”

Hours after the announcement, Zilisch, Love, and now Crews have all released statements on the matter. See the issue is, Crews is a Toyota driver, his team is a Toyota Truck Series team. Zilisch and Love are Chevy drivers.

“Connor and Jesse are great friends of mind, but we went a little overboard in exaggerating their roles,” Crews posted. “To be clear, they have no official capacity, other than they are friends who want me to do well.”

Connor and Jesse are great friends of mine, but we went a little overboard in exaggerating their roles. To be clear, they have no official capacity, other than they are friends who want me to do well.
— Brent Crews (@BrentCrews11) August 1, 2025

Someone at Chevy or Trackhouse or Richard Childress Racing stepped in and made sure that everything was clarified. Even Toyota and Brent Crews wanted to clear the air it appears. The young drivers are all good buddies, but they are not involved in his project as a collective. That much is clear now.

Connor Zilisch clarifies Brent Crews Motorsports involvement

Earlier today, Connor Zilisch got mixed up in the big news about Brent Crews launching his own NASCAR Truck Series team. So, he’s coming out with a statement to clear things up. Maybe Chevy wasn’t too happy about the news.

At times, things can be misunderstood and misconstrued. That appears to be what happened earlier today.

Jeff Gluck of The Athletic reported on the news about Brent Crews Motorsports. He also included a bit about Connor Zilisch, Jesse Love, and Jack Baldwin being “executives.” Turns out that last part was just a joke or exaggeration. The four young drivers are simply good friends.

“There was a misunderstanding in conversations with Brent’s new truck team and me being an executive,” Zilisch posted. “I’m excited to cheer him on as a friend next weekend at Watkins and I’m pumped to go for 4 in a row this weekend in Iowa with JRM, Chevy, and Trackhouse!”

Both Crews and Zilisch are seen as future Cup Series talents. Potentially generational, era-defining talents. As they both continue to develop and make big decisions, like starting a new Truck Series team at 17, it will be interesting to see if they live up to the hype.

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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