Connor Zilisch Didn’t Want to Be Trackhouse’s ‘Scaredy-Cat’ at Atlanta Cup Race

Piloting Trackhouse's fourth car at Atlanta, the 18-year-old development racer opened up about gaining the other drivers' trust while drafting. 

"Man, it's just going to take time," said the rookie Xfinity driver. "It's tough — and I get it. I'm young and new to this. They haven't raced with me, they don't trust me enough to push me. That's been the same everywhere I've gone, every series I've raced.

"I was trying my best to be as respectful as possible, giving people space. I want to build that respect. I'm trying not to be too nice and make everyone think I'm a scaredy-cat, but at the same time, I don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers," he emphasized. 

With a solid result at Atlanta, the Red Bull athlete looked highly motivated for another race with Trackhouse when asked about coming to another drafting track in the Cup Series. 

"Yeah, definitely," he answered. "The Trackhouse cars have been on the up. Today was a lot of attrition, to be honest. I wasn't an 11th-place car — I ran better than I should have. But that's part of these races. They're long, and sometimes you've just got to make it to the end of them.

"So yeah, I was glad to see the checkered flag. That was my goal for today, and we made it — made it in exemplary fashion and got a decent finish out of it. Not a points day, but still a solid result. I checked all my boxes. If you'd told me this morning I was going to finish 11th, I'd be ecstatic." 

With a career-best finish in the Cup Series at Atlanta, Zilisch is turning out to be a pleasant surprise for Trackhouse, who'll surely be looking to include him in more Cup races in the future.