| NASCAR CUP SERIES DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES MAY 15, 2026 |
Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of his first NASCAR All-Star weekend at Dover Motor Speedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
| NASCAR CUP SERIESDOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTESMAY 15, 2026 |
Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of his first NASCAR All-Star weekend at Dover Motor Speedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: You have a practice session coming up. What’s the simulation told you? What types of things are you conscious of? I know you don’t have a lot of years with this generation racecar, but there’s changes with it. Just what’s your expectation for this practice session and what are you looking for?“Yeah, it’s definitely going to be interesting. We have resin all the way across the racetrack, and then we have the low downforce package with the Cup car. Certainly, there’s a lot of things for drivers to learn, but it’s going to be good for me to get an hour and a half of practice, two sets of tires, have some time to go out and figure things out. I’m looking forward to it.” To that point, you don’t have a lot of preconceived notions about what this place should be with a Cup car, and then you throw in the rules change and the resin. Is it easier for you in that regard in that you don’t have anything you have to override in terms of what you think this place should be?“Yeah, I mean certainly, I don’t have any previous experience. While I’m figuring it out, so will everybody else. But yeah, it doesn’t hurt me to have no experience, especially when we have rules changes like this. But at the end of the day, our job is to drive a car fast no matter what’s given to us. So yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing what it does.” I’m sure growing up you have memories or fond memories of watching All-Star races over the years. And I’m curious, how much do you feel like, regardless of where it’s held or what the format is, how important is it in your mind that we have some sort of event like this that’s just different than the standard 36 races?“Yeah, I mean I definitely think it’s important to have something with an unique format to give people something to look forward to. We have a very long schedule, and I think that after 36 weeks in a row, it’s good to have at least a weekend where we switch things up and do something different. I always appreciate that the pit crews get a chance to show their talent and have a chance to win some money. Yeah, it’s good for everybody.” Today, you have more practice, I think, than just about any other race this year. It actually may be number one. Non-points race, Dover’s so unique. But is there anything you can take from being in the car this long that you guys are looking to try to glean from it and maybe learn from other racetracks?“Yeah, 100%. It’s not often we get a session where we can go out and change things and try and do things differently with the racecar. I mean, especially at a track like this where it’s okay to make multiple runs on tires, I feel like you’re able to do that a little better here, and places like Bristol, some of those higher-grip tracks with less fall-off. So, yeah, it’s certainly important to try and utilize them as best as possible. You don’t get them very often, so you should try and make the most of them when you have them.” Do you have any guesses for what the resin is going to do throughout the course of the weekend? Is there any sense on your team of like — alright, it’ll probably start as this, then it’ll go to this, or is everybody in a guessing game?“I don’t think we’ve done this, so it’s kind of a lot of guesses. It’s very hard to say what we expect, but I think the track’s going to widen out. I think you’re going to get guys running all over the place. I hope that makes the racing product better. I hope we’re not too stuck to the track that it becomes slot cars and we’re just ripping around at really high pace. But I think it’s very hard to say what it’s going to do. So, yeah, it’s certainly going to be different, though.” Last weekend when you talked to everybody, it was fresh off Jesse Love’s heartbreak. Doubling back with him during the week, did you feel like you could have a conversation about it, or was it was still so raw that you’re not there yet, friend-wise?“I think it’d be different if I wrecked him, then I think it’d be a little tougher to have a conversation. But, I mean, I did nothing wrong. So, yeah, we hung out on Monday and everything was normal. It’s kind of just something you’ve got to expect when you’re friends with the guy you’re racing against, is that you’re not going to be friends on the track, and you’ve just got to separate the two as best you can. It happens, right? That’s our sport. That’s part of it. We race each other hard on the weekend, but when it’s time to be friends away from the racetrack and put racing to the side, we’re able to do that.” |