All eyes are on Connor Zilisch.

At just 19 years old, he is considered NASCAR’s next phenom as he soon steps into a full-time Cup Series ride in 2026 at Trackhouse Racing.

The North Carolina native, who originally thought that open-wheel cars would be his path as a race-car driver, has already won six times in the Xfinity Series this year (not to mention winning in his series debut at Watkins Glen last year). 

Yet, this season hasn’t been easy despite the success. Zilisch suffered a back injury in a crash at Talladega earlier this year and then recently broke his collarbone in an awkward fall off his car celebrating in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen.

FOX Sports caught up with Zilisch to find out a little bit more about him, more off the track than on the track. But he also tells us about how he will approach victory celebrations in the future.

Who is Connor Zilisch?

It’s weird. It’s been wild. I’ve been in this world for probably two years now, 24 months or so, and just crazy how fast everyone has gotten to know me, and how fast I’ve learned faces in the garage and gotten to meet people and see what this sport is all about. And it’s been really cool. But for me, I’m just a kid who grew up racing go-karts, not knowing that there was even a career to be made in racing. And I did it as a hobby growing up. When I found out that I could make a living doing this stuff, it was always my dream. I didn’t care if it was making $30,000 coaching guys on road courses or racing [sports cars in] IMSA or INDYCAR, whatever it may be. And this is the last place I thought I’d end up, but, man, it’s been a journey and a really fun one, and it’s certainly changed my life. It’s crazy what my life has become, but it’s been really cool.

If I asked [RCR driver] Jesse Love, who is Connor Zilisch? So how would your good friend describe you?

Probably much dumber than what people see on TV. Everyone always tells me how smart I sound and how well spoken I am, and it would be much different coming from someone else. But as a friend, I care about people and anybody who has helped me in any way get to this point — I owe a lot to a lot of people, and I’m very fortunate to be where I am today. I feel like I’m just down to Earth. I didn’t come from a family with a name or I didn’t come from a family with boatloads of money. I’m grateful to be here. And I just try and be thankful every day that I’ve been put in this position to do what I love. Jesse, I’m sure he would say good things about my personality, but I’m definitely not as perfect as people sometimes think I am.

But you did move away from home and live in Europe when you were what, 14?

12, 13, 14 in Italy, where I was based.

And the stories of you getting on your bike and going to find food there, that’s real?

It’s real 100 percent. My dad worked a full-time job. My mom works in cancer research. She works a full-time job. They couldn’t come with me, and they had to put food on the table at home and help support what I was doing overseas. And I went over there with my go-kart mechanic and we traveled around Europe together in a rental car, and I raced go-karts all across countries in Western Europe. And I was very fortunate to do that. But it certainly changed my maturity, and just how I look at the world and how I view the world. I got to meet so many different people from many different cultures and languages and deal with language barriers at a young age. It was definitely a unique upbringing, but one that certainly has molded me into who I am today. I’ve got a lot of cool stories to tell that don’t have time to tell, but I certainly am very fortunate to have experienced everything I did.

Can you speak Italian?

Actually, when I was over there, I could almost fluently understand Italian. I could pick out words and I could get by, by the time I was done over there. I couldn’t speak it very well. But when we were in Mexico City [to race earlier this year], Italian and Spanish are very similar. And I’d go to dinner or something with Jesse, and he was shocked at how much I could understand. And people would speak to us in Spanish, and I could understand what they were saying a good bit. It’s gone away in the past few years. But I feel like that’s one thing that I picked up that is pretty cool is just being able to understand that kind of language and the things that you learn and pick up on when you’re traveling the world as a kid.

Did you ever buy something to eat or order something that when you got it, you really didn’t know what it was, but you’re like, I either got to eat it or go hungry?

Yes. There was one time I ordered cavallo, which I didn’t know is horse. I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t translate it. I kind of just ordered it because they said it was good. And later come to find out it was horse, which is something that they eat over there. And I actually enjoyed it, but I never ordered it again, because I … I see horses, and I don’t think of them as food. So that’s probably one of the things that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But I found out.

When you try to get away from racing, you golf?

Yeah. I golf. I live on the lake in Lake Norman, and I go on the lake a lot and wakesurf. When I’m not at the racetrack, as much as I love this sport, you can drown yourself in it and just quickly destroy your love for it if you attach yourself to it too much. I do everything to prepare myself for each race. And I love it, and I live and breathe it. But with that said, I also have to find a balance for it. When I’m with my friends — that’s why I like hanging out with the friends that I have, because we all race. We all are in the same headspace when we’re together, we don’t talk about racing. We don’t discuss it, and we’re just 19-year-old kids that want to have fun. And although there’s times where you have to be serious and focus on what’s important, there’s also times where you’ve just got to get away and kind of be a kid. It’s hard for me to balance being a teenager and also having a professional career with seven-figure sponsors and dealing with that stuff. But at the same time, I’ve also learned to enjoy myself away from the track and learn to balance being a kid with doing what I love.

Are you competitive on the golf course? Or can you turn off that juice?

I’m so bad, it’s hard to be competitive. I wish I was a little better. But when I get to the golf course, I know that there’s not much to be competitive about in my golf game.

Finally, is the goal 2026 fewer doctor visits?

Yes. I know Bill Heisel at OrthoCarolina [who directs OrthoCarolina’s motorsports division] way too well at this point. And although I love Bill and everything he does, I wish I wasn’t seeing him as much. I’ll keep the window stands to a minimum. Hopefully, I can get the opportunity to stand on the window next year and get to celebrate wins, but I’m not going to be doing that for the short future.

You’re not just going to tuck the window net inside and stand on the car?

If I stand two feet on the roof, I think that’s probably a better option. But I don’t think having one foot on the door with a window net, and then one foot on the roof is probably my next move. So, yes, I hope I get another chance to redeem myself in Victory Lane. But you won’t see me standing like that again.

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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