Laughter might be the best medicine, but for NASCAR Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch, a seventh-place finish in the June 28 race at Sonoma Raceway might as well be a miracle drug after a rough first half of his rookie campaign.
Zilisch scored his first top 10 of his Cup Series career in his 21st start at Sonoma, which should give the 19-year-old some momentum going into the second half of 2026.
What Sonoma top 10 meant to Connor Zilisch
“I can stop getting Twitter notifications about people telling me I haven’t finished inside the top 10 yet,” Zilisch said Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “It’s just all the little things that I feel like are good for me. Something I can be proud of and not leave the track banging my head against the wall.
“It’s nice. I feel like we did a good job on Sunday [of] just executing the race and I feel like we just had a solid weekend. That’s about all you can ask for.”
Zilisch also finished second at Sonoma in the June 27 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, giving him a pair of top-10 finishes on the weekend.
Zilisch, who has had his best performances of the season all come on road courses this season, will be faced with 18 straight oval races to close his rookie Cup Series season, beginning with Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway.