Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen at Sonoma. Image: Supplied
There have been whispers that GM could look to counter Ford’s Austin Cindric deal with a one-off Adelaide outing with Zilisch for several weeks.
The concept was then discussed on Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki’s Lucky Dogs podcast last week, Brown outlining that he’d been asked about it during his recent trip to the States to race in the Xfinity Series.
“There was also talk, and I have no idea, but I thought someone was talking about Connor Zilisch maybe doing a wildcard,” said Brown, who has a connection to Zilisch through Red Bull.
“This was getting thrown around a bit when we were over there. A few people asked us, ‘is Connor actually coming out and doing a wildcard [in Supercars]?’.”
The matter has now been well and truly pressed into the limelight by Apex Hunters United today which has posted an AI image of both Cindric and Zillisch on the Adelaide grid.
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AHU was founded by Scott Pye and Shane van Gisbergen, the latter Zilisch’s teammate at both Trackhouse Racing the NASCAR Cup Series and JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series.
The popular podcast and Facebook page was first to post about the Cindric wildcard in similar fashion, which, as history now shows, was right.
The AHU image cheekily has ‘Forklift Rentals’ on the Zilisch car, suggesting Team 18 is the leading contender to field an additional Camaro if required.
Should GM be funding the program that would make sense, given Team 18 is now the brand’s homologation team.
However PremiAir Racing was already gearing up to run the Kyle Larson wildcard, which has since been canned, and could therefore still have capacity to run a car in Adelaide.
Zilisch is one of the hottest young prospects in the NASCAR system and a regular winner on both ovals and road courses in the second tier.
He also made global headlines this year by falling out of his car while celebrating victory at Watkins Glen and breaking his collarbone.
The 19-year-old is set to step up to the Cup Series full time next year alongside van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain at Trackhouse.
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