Denny Hamlin has worst NASCAR heartbreak since Dale Earnhardt in 1990
The guys review the 2025 NASCAR championship weekend, with Kyle Larson’s Cup Series title, Denny Hamlin’s heartbreak and more.
- Connor Zilisch will co-pilot a Cadillac prototype in the upcoming Rolex 24 at Daytona.
- Zilisch will move up to the NASCAR Cup Series next season with Trackhouse Racing.
His day job may be changing, but Connor Zilisch’s side-hustle remains the same, though in faster company.
The 19-year-old racer, fresh off a dominant season in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, has been named a co-pilot for Cadillac’s prototype effort in January’s season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona. It’ll be the third straight Rolex start for Zilisch, but first in a marquee Grand Touring Prototype after two starts in the LMP2 class.
“Hopefully, we’re going to make the most of it and see if this can lead to more opportunities for me in the Cadillac because it would be super cool for me to be able to race at the highest levels of endurance racing,” Zilisch said through a Wednesday press release. “That’s always been a dream of mine.”
Zilisch will join the four-driver roster in the No. 31 Whelen-sponsored Cadillac of Action Express Racing. His co-drivers are sports-car racers Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.
Two other Cadillac GTPs will be fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing.
When is the 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona?
The 2026 Rolex 24 is scheduled for Jan. 24-25 on Daytona’s 3.56-mile road course. Teams in all four Rolex 24 classes — GTP, LMP2, GTD and GTD Pro — will get an offseason shakedown at Daytona next Friday through Sunday (Nov. 14-16).
Zilisch came to Daytona two years ago and, at age 17, left with a Rolex Daytona wristwatch. He was part of the LMP2 class-winning team, driving for Era Motorsports in a car that also won its next race, at Sebring, with Zilisch part of the driver lineup.
Last year, Zilisch was part of an LMP2 entry that finished ninth in class at Daytona.
A month later, he began his first full-time NASCAR season in the Xfinity Series and lived up to the hype in a big way. Driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports, Zilisch won 10 races and had 23 top-10s in 32 starts, yet didn’t win the championship when he finished third in the season-ending championship race at Phoenix this past weekend.
Next season he moves up to the Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing, driving the team’s No. 99 Chevrolet.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
