It is no secret that Connor Zilisch has been having a tough debut season in the NASCAR Cup Series. However, his Trackhouse Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen has some advice for the rookie as he navigates through this unexpectedly rough patch.

Coming into the Cup Series, Zilisch was probably one of the most hyped rookies, and his success in the lower series proved that. He had an impressive 2025 Xfinity Series (now O'Reilly Series), winning 10 races. However, getting anywhere near the Top 10 in the Cup Series has been a whole different story.

SVG spoke about Zilisch's run while speaking with the media ahead of Sunday's Cup race in Sonoma. 

"I mean, I went through it last year. Pretty similar thing," SVG said (via Cup Scene on YouTube). "You know, you come in expecting to do decent, and you know, everyone in the Cup Series has won Xfinity races. That's the level everyone's at. It's tough."

SVG reflected on his career graph in the Supercars Championship in Australia and how the jump from the junior series to the top tier can be a shock.

"I had it in Supercars when I was 18. You know, I did really well in all my junior formulas and then get into the main class, and I was qualifying at the back. Yeah, it's a rude awakening, but you got to push through it, and I'm sure the second half of his season will be good, and he'll just keep that, you know, things will start turning around for him," the Trackhouse veteran added.

While Connor Zilisch has been struggling to produce decent results, at Sonoma, he finished seventh in the Cup race after qualifying 17th - the first Top 10 of his career.

In the O'Reilly race, however, he finished runner-up to SVG, who also won the Cup race.

SVG beats JR Motorsports teammate to win O’Reilly race at Sonoma 

The O'Reilly race at Sonoma was very reminiscent of last year, as the two JR Motorsports teammates battled it out on track for the victory. Throughout the race, Shane van Gisbergen looked dominant, leading 66 of 79 laps.

Though Connor Zilisch came close to catching his teammate's No. 9 JR Motorsports car, he couldn't seal the deal and ultimately settled for a second-place finish.

While talking to the media post-race, Gisbergen opened up about how he felt Zilisch almost caught him and that he enjoyed the battle they had. 

"I thought he was going to catch me," he said via KRON. "Then it would have been an awesome battle, but thankfully I had enough gap and sort of was able to manage it."

SVG carried the momentum into the Cup race, leading 74 of 110 laps, and fending off Chase Briscoe in the final laps to win his second race of the season.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yash Kotak