{"id":99121,"date":"2025-08-26T20:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T20:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/99121\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T20:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T20:26:08","slug":"kevin-harvick-connor-zilisch-the-most-polished-prospect-since-jeff-gordon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/99121\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Harvick: Connor Zilisch The &#8216;Most Polished&#8217; Prospect Since Jeff Gordon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">The hype around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nascar\/connor-zilisch-driver\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Connor Zilisch<\/a> isn&#8217;t going around anytime soon \u2014 and rightfully so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">The 19-year-old has taken the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nascar\/xfinity-series\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Xfinity Series<\/a> by storm, winning in his debut last year at Watkins Glen, and now having captured a series-high seven victories this season to sit second in the standings, just three points behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nascar\/justin-allgaier-driver\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Justin Allgaier<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">His immediate dominance has led to some hefty praise around the sport, including from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/nascar\/cup-series\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NASCAR<\/a> legend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">&#8220;He is the most polished \u2014 most well-rounded \u2014 young driver that\u2019s come to the Cup Series in a long time \u2014 since Jeff Gordon,&#8221; Kevin Harvick said on the latest edition of the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/shows\/kevin-harvicks-happy-hour\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kevin Harvick&#8217;s Happy Hour<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">Harvick, who developed a relationship with Zilisch over the years while his son, Keelan Harvick, and Zilisch ran go-karts at the same time, believes Zilisch is poised for stardom.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">&#8220;Connor was just one of those kids that stuck out,&#8221; Harvick said. &#8220;He could start in the back and go to the front. He\u2019d make spectacular moves. And just since I\u2019ve known him, that\u2019s how he has carried himself.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">Zilisch, named the top NASCAR prospect in a recent FOX Sports ranking, is currently on the mend following surgery for a broken collarbone suffered when he fell from his car while celebrating in victory lane at Watkins Glen earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">He will race full-time in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">&#8220;[Connor&#8217;s] got a great demeanor in the way he carries himself, and people are going to love him,&#8221; Harvick said. &#8220;\u2026And people are going to love him for who he is, let alone the fact that he can drive the snot out of that car.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-f4e318d2=\"\">[Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/nascar\/who-connor-zilisch-teenager-taking-over-nascar\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Who Is Connor Zilisch? Say Hello To The Teenager Taking Over NASCAR<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>\n        What did you think of this story?\n      <\/p>\n<p>\n        recommended\n      <\/p>\n<p> Arrow pointing to the leftArrow pointing to the right <\/p>\n<p>Item 1 of 3<\/p>\n<p>   <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/NASCARCup.vresize.160.160.medium.0.png\" alt=\"NASCAR Cup Series\" class=\"team-logo\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\"\/> Get more from the NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hype around Connor Zilisch isn&#8217;t going around anytime soon \u2014 and rightfully so. The 19-year-old has taken&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-99121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99121","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=99121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}