Dale Earnhardt Jr. Declares Conor Zilisch Will Be in the “Midpack a Lot” in His Cup Rookie Season

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season will be special for racing prodigy Conor Zilisch. He is set to make his top tier debut, replacing Daniel Suarez at Trackhouse Racing. He is on high flying form in the 2025 season, winning nine Xfinity Series races, winning the regular season champion and being the championship front runner alongside JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier.

In the recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. the owner of JRM shared his prediction about how the debut season is going to be for Conor Zilisch. He admitted that the youngster will be a midfield driver in majority of the race, mainly due to the fact that Trackhouse as a team is very inconsistent regarding fielding solid cars.

I think he’ll be midpack a lot… Trackhouse has this sort of hot and cold vibe. They run the 600 fastest car there by far and then disappear for a while. We’ll see you in a month.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said via Dale Jr. Download.

But when it comes to road courses, things are going to be different. In the Next-Gen era, there is no team better than Trackhouse in fielding fast cars on road courses, with Suarez, Ross Chastain and now Shane van Gisbergen winning these races with absolute dominance. Zilisch is an elite road course racer and having good teammates is only going to make him better.

Now they obviously have good speed at the road courses, and I think that since SVG’s there and kind of understands and is getting better at making the Next Gen car what it needs to be.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

Conor Zilisch is going to be producing the same level performance as SVG and is going to make the Trackhouse Chevy’s unmatchable in the Cup Series. So, no one should be surprised if the young racer produces a special run in his rookie season and secure a road course race win, just like his Kiwi teammate SVG did this season.

Connor, then, too, can start to improve on the car. So, wouldn’t be surprised if Connor battles for a win at a road course. I think that’s not stepping out of bounds. But everywhere else, he’s learning an entirely new car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. asserted.

Denny Hamlin declares Conor Zilisch is ready to compete in the Cup

In the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, JGR veteran Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on the young racer. He declared that the racer has nothing left to prove in the Xfinity Series and deserves the Cup call, though it’s going to be a challenge he has ever seen. The veteran expects the racer to a serious playoff contender.

Well, he’s certainly ready (to compete in the Cup Series). I don’t think he has anything more to prove in the Xfinity series, which is why he’s getting the call up to Cup, but it’s a tall fence. He’s far ahead of where I was at that point. So yeah, I think that he’s certainly ready. He’s going to be competitive. Certainly, a playoff contender.

Denny Hamlin said.

The veteran racer is looking forward to two major things from Conor Zilisch. First one is how good he is going to be in the ovals driving a Trackhouse Racing Chevy. The second one how he is going perform in comparison to Shane van Gisbergen, who will be dominating the road courses. It’s a bog questions in everyone’s mind, is Zilisch going to be the better version of SVG that Chevy needs.

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