Connor Zilisch’s rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series has hit a new low with his ninth Did Not Finish (DNF) in just 25 races, underscoring a turbulent introduction to top-tier stock car racing.
Despite the promising announcement earlier this week that Hendrick Motorsports secured Zilisch as the driver of its flagship No. 48 Chevrolet for the 2028 season, the 20-year-old’s current campaign with Trackhouse Racing’s No. 88 Chevrolet continues to unravel.
The latest setback unfolded after 222 laps when Zilisch was caught in a chaotic incident triggered by Riley Herbst’s heavy crash into the outside wall. Zilisch’s vision was blocked by the car directly ahead, and despite repeated warnings from spotter Stefan Parsons to “stay low,” the rookie locked up his front brakes and veered upward. This misjudgment led him to clip Herbst’s stationary No. 35 Toyota before smashing into the wall himself, abruptly ending his race and relegating him to 35th place. On the radio, his frustration was brutally candid: “I’m so f***ing horrible! Gosh, what am I doing!” He immediately acknowledged the mistake, blaming locked front brakes for the collision.
This incident adds to an alarming pattern: Zilisch has failed to finish seven of his last 13 races this season. His tally of 5,278 laps completed is the lowest among full-time Cup drivers, trailing the next lowest, Josh Berry, by more than 600 laps. The rookie’s struggles have been compounded by a combination of bad luck, challenging car setups, and an unforgiving learning curve at NASCAR’s highest level.
To put these difficulties in perspective, recent Rookies of the Year in the Next Gen era have experienced significantly fewer DNFs-2025 ROTY Shane van Gisbergen recorded only four all season, 2024 ROTY Carson Hocevar had two, 2023 ROTY Ty Gibbs finished with five, and 2022 ROTY Austin Cindric completed four. With eleven races remaining in the 2026 season, Zilisch faces an uphill battle to salvage his debut campaign. The pressure to deliver consistent finishes and avoid further incidents is immense as he aims to turn around a rookie year mired in setbacks.
Zilisch’s raw admission of “What am I doing?” captures the weight of the challenge ahead as he looks to reset and prove his potential in a fiercely competitive series.