NASCAR Cup Series Rookie Connor Zilisch called his short-lived outing at Michigan International Speedway “embarrassing” during a recent interview.
Connor Zilisch’s Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway was far from pleasant, with the Cup Series rookie scoring his third consecutive last-place finish of the season.
Unlike his prior two last-place finishes, Zilisch’s day was much shorter in the Irish Hills, with the No. 88 crashing twice within the race’s first eight laps.
The first came in turn four on lap three after a bump from Christopher Bell, with Zilisch bumping the rear of his No. 88 into the outside wall, heading down pit road, and rejoining the field on track for the restart.
It only got worse from there, with Zilisch wrecking again at the exit of turn two just a few laps later, going nose-first into the inside wall, ending his day after completing just eight laps.
Even with his first trip to Michigan in the books, and the Cup Series is headed to a track that he won at in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series last season, Zilisch is still feeling the sting from this past weekend.
During an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Tuesday morning, Zilisch called the outing “embarrassing,” admitting that he felt he could have done more for his team to turn a difficult day into a positive finish.
“It was honestly embarrassing. I definitely struggled to get the car where I wanted to in the race, didn’t really ever give it a chance either, which I take the blame for. Obviously we weren’t great as a team, but I could have done a better job of at least keeping us in it and giving my guys a chance to work on it and get it better like Ross [Chastain] did. So yeah, honestly, you know, not a lot to say about it, frustrating day.” — Connor Zilisch
Still, Zilisch says that he is still working at finding his groove in the sport’s top division, noting that, “it’ll come if I keep working at it.”
The 2026 season has been one filled with trouble for Zilisch, dating all the way back to his full-time debut at the Daytona 500.
So far, the 19-year-old has just three top twenty finishes to his name, and has a 28th-place average finish, a stat severely affected by his five DNFs through the season’s first 15 races.
Of course, the problems do not entirely fall on Zilisch’s shoulders, as, for the most part, his team, Trackhouse Racing, has seen an unprecedented fall off early on this season.
While Zilisch has had his issues, so has his teammate Ross Chastain.
Chastain is currently in a year-long losing streak dating back to his win in the 2025 Coca-Cola 600. To compound that, his 21.9 average finish is the worst of his five seasons behind the wheel of the No. 1, far worse than his second-worst average finish of 15.8 last season.
Even then, there is a bright spot in the team’s garage, as road course ace Shane van Gisbergen keeps winning on road courses and finding his groove on ovals.
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