Kevin Harvick reveals the “biggest challenge” for Conor Zilisch in the Cup series

SHR veteran Kevin Harvick has shared his feelings about the toughest challenge prodigy Conor Zilisch is going to face in NASCAR.

Kevin Harvick reveals the “biggest challenge” for Conor Zilisch in the Cup series

Kevin Harvick and Conor Zilisch (Via IMAGO)

The 2025 Cup series race at the Circuit of The Americas marked the top-division debut of youngster Conor Zilisch. Though his debut didn’t go as planned owing to a wreck, but was fast enough to impress the garage. The JR Motorsports driver is one of the most promising racers in the NASCAR pyramid, and that’s the reason why Trackhouse Racing has invested significant sum into his future.

2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick shared his feelings about the youngster performance in the COTA weekend, including the Xfinity race win. He pointed out that the youngster performed great in the weekend, and over the years. Harvick also highlighted the 2025 Xfinity series season a going to be a year of learning for him.

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Zilisch did a great job, I think everybody’s expectation is that he’s going to be great, he’s done great in everything that he’s done so far. The Xfinity Series he’s going to learn a lot this year.

Kevin Harvick said via Happy Hour podcast.

He then highlighted that the oval races are going to be the biggest challenge for the youngster, considering he is more suited for road courses and the addition competition in the Cup makes it tough as well. In order to succeed in the top division, Zilisch has to manage his life well and work on getting better.

The ovals will still be his biggest challenge but ultimately on Cup, on the Cup side of things, it’s really about how you manage life and how you manage all the things you have to do. To maintain the level of performance that you want takes a lot of work.

Kevin Harvick added.

Kevin Harvick explains how the Trackhouse racers are under pressure because of Conor Zilisch

The veteran racer in the podcast, shared his feelings the challenge the veteran pose against the Trackhouse Racing’s veteran line-up. He highlighted how he is putting pressure on Ross Chastain, Daniel Suárez and Shane van Gisbergen, with his road course racing pace.

Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick (Via IMAGO)

So, he’s ultra-fast, well he’s in the same cars. That immediately puts that pressure on those two teammates. And you look at the Trackhouse situation. It immediately puts pressure on Ross Chastain, Daniel Suárez, and SVG because of the speed he has on a road course.

Kevin Harvick said.

The comments from the future Hall of Famer shows how Zilisch has been able to earn the respect of the NASCAR garage with his recent performance. It would be interesting to see if the prodigy can deliver on his performance, in the coming years and match the expectation the NASCAR community has about him.