{"id":417965,"date":"2026-01-18T20:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T20:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417965\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T20:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T20:09:10","slug":"trackhouse-driver-reveals-major-breakthrough-ahead-of-debut-nascar-cup-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/417965\/","title":{"rendered":"Trackhouse driver reveals major breakthrough ahead of debut NASCAR Cup season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Connor Zilisch had one of the best rookie seasons in the history of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/pro\/category\/nascar\/news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASCAR<\/a> O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2025. It wasn\u2019t all smooth, however, as Zilisch suffered a broken collarbone in August after his win at Watkins Glen International. <\/p>\n<p>Zilisch underwent surgery and missed just one race before returning. The 19-year-old is set to compete this week in the 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona. He provided an update in his shoulder while speaking with Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports after Saturday\u2019s practice session. Zilisch revealed he hasn\u2019t needed any additional surgeries during the offseason. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Connor Zilisch, at Daytona for Rolex 24 practice for next week&#8217;s race, said his shoulder feels fine and he hasn&#8217;t needed any offseason surgeries. The plate that was put in during the surgery following the Watkins Glen fall won&#8217;t be removed. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NASCARONFOX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@NASCARONFOX<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/y9Ggm2xPrw\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/y9Ggm2xPrw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bobpockrass\/status\/2012908758377132343?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt probably took two months of PT (physical therapy), and I haven\u2019t had any worries about it since. I didn\u2019t get the plate out. I don\u2019t plan on getting the plate out,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cSo, everything\u2019s been really good. It certainly was a headache at first, but I\u2019m glad everything\u2019s fine now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Connor Zilisch fully healthy, set to make full-time NASCAR Cup debut in 2026<\/p>\n<p>Zilisch slipped and fell off the top of his car while celebrating in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen. Zilisch, who fell awkwardly on the ground, was transported to a nearby hospital. The injury didn\u2019t slow him down one bit. <\/p>\n<p>Zilisch won four more races post-surgery (Zilisch started at Daytona before making way to Parker Kligerman who took the checkered flag), advancing as far as the Championship 4. Despite winning a series-high 10 races, Zilisch\u2019s P3 finish at Phoenix Raceway wasn\u2019t enough to give him the championship. Jesse Love won the race and the title. <\/p>\n<p>Zilisch will compete on a part-time basis for JR Motorsports in the O\u2019Reilly Series in 2026. Furthermore, he will race full-time for Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series. A lot of eyes will be on Zilisch, the overwhelming favorite to win the 2026 Cup Rookie of the Year Award. <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Zilisch had one of the best rookie seasons in the history of the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-417965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}