Ross Chastain is looking forward to having Connor Zilisch as a full-time teammate with Trackhouse Racing next season in the NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina native has been one of the biggest topics in NASCAR conversation this season, winning a Xfinity series-high seven races, as well as 13 top-fives and 15 top-10 finishes, as well as another series high of five pole positions.<\/p>\n
Zilisch is three points behind his JR Motorsports teammate, Justin Allgaier in the Xfinity Series standings with two more regular season races to go before the playoffs begin. But that partnership with JRM will end at the conclusion of this series as Zilisch moves up to the Cup Series, essentially replacing Daniel Suarez, whose contract was not renewed.<\/p>\n
Chastain began an interview with The Athletic\u2019s Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi on The Teardown podcast that included all 16 drivers that qualified for the Cup playoffs, in a humorous manner, essentially ribbing Zilisch for his fall and resulting broken collarbone suffered after winning three weeks ago at Watkins Glen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I wanted to make sure that Trackhouse had our insurance policy up to date, health insurance, make sure we\u2019ve got everything, workman\u2019s comp, all up (and) paid,\u201d Chastain quipped. \u201cIt\u2019s a walking medical bill. Luckily, he\u2019s still walking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chastain felt sympathy for his future teammate after the incident, but that lasted less than 24 hours. Zilisch suffered his accident on a Saturday afternoon, and Chastain and his team were cracking jokes, good naturedly of course, on Sunday morning prior to the Cup race at The Glen.<\/p>\n
\u201cSunday morning (was when Chastain gave his first one-liner about Zilisch), when I knew he was okay and he was on his way to the track,\u201d Chastain said. \u201cMy pit crew on the No. 1 (are) jokesters, to say the least. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn\u2019t even back to the track yet but he was going to be there, and we saw him on the grid that Sunday, and we had all kinds of jokes flying around. So we waited till Sunday but we only gave it one night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning serious, Chastain actually marvels at what Zilisch<\/a> has done this season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. \u201cYeah, he\u2019s 19 and it\u2019s not fair (that Zilisch has so much talent),\u201d Chastain said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve told him that and I\u2019ve told Justin (Trackhouse team owner Justin Marks) and Mardy (Lindley) is crew chief over at (JR Motorsports) and the group over there. It\u2019s not fair what he\u2019s able to do and how he\u2019s able to deal with all this.\u201d<\/p>\n Chastain then turned philosophical a bit adding, \u201cI do still believe the old saying I heard a long time ago: there\u2019s no further walk on this earth than walking from the Xfinity to the Cup garage. I think that still rings true.\u201d<\/p>\n Chastain went through some of what Zilisch has early in his career<\/p>\n