Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Connor Zilisch Interview

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Kevin Harvick sits down with rising NASCAR talent Connor Zilisch ahead of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season on this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, diving into how Zilisch is preparing for the biggest opportunity of his young career. Zilisch reflects on his unconventional path to NASCAR, admitting he never expected to be racing stock cars, and discusses how Harvick’s mentorship helped guide key decisions along the way. The conversation explores his goals with Trackhouse Racing, what it means to represent Red Bull at the Cup level, and how he plans to handle expectations entering a new season. From career-defining advice to long-term aspirations, the interview offers insight into one of the sport’s most promising young drivers as he prepares to take the next step in 2026. 0:00 - Intro 0:34 - Connor Zilisch Joins The Show! 1:59 - Early Journey In Racing 12:19 - Racing For Justin Marks 14:28 - Transitioning To A Full-Time Cup Series Driver 16:20 - Expectations For This Season 20:36 - Biggest Critics 22:27 - Using Data Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When I really realized that I could make it to where I am today, it was honestly when I met you. You were able to point me in the right direction. Hardest transition in racing going from O'Reilly Series to the Cup Series. It certainly is different than anything I've ever done. I don't want cheerleaders. That's never been me. These people are jumping off cliffs and jumping out of planes. And I always feel like the biggest loser because all I do is drive a big, heavy stock car around.

we're freezing cold in North Carolina but to come back to track house motorplex used to be GoPro motorplex but to come back here to me it doesn't seem like that long ago I don't know how you feel about how recent the go-kart days have been but man you have made just this crazy rise through the ranks and it has to be a little bit surreal for you yeah it definitely is and you're not wrong it doesn't feel like long ago for me either I certainly, you know, every day I wake up and I question how it all happened so quickly and, you know, just all the people I met starting with you early on when I was helping Keelan and we were teammates and, you know, a lot has changed since then. But, you know, certainly a lot of things have definitely happened in my favor to get me to where I am today.

And I do miss the days at the go-car track where, you know, we'd come out on the weekdays and travel on the weekends and go everywhere together and, you know, always end up at the start. track at the same time, but yeah, it's pretty surreal to see what all has changed in the last four or five years. When you look back at that time, when you started, I mean, how did you get started? A lot of people that are hardcore race fans know who you are. I think a lot of our cup audience is there's a lot of new fans, especially for the Clash and the Daytona 500. So how did you get into racing? How did all this start for you? Yeah, it's honestly, I didn't come from a background my family never raced my dad was a car guy but he grew up with a single mother who couldn't afford to have him start out in anything but when I was

younger I was playing for a soccer team and my brother was playing soccer and my brother's soccer coach recommended that you know we should take our or my dad should take me and my two brothers to the go-cart track on the weekends and at this time my dad was taking his you know street car to the track for fun and street car was what he had a Corvette he would take to the track on the weekends and And, you know, that was something that he just enjoyed doing. But then my mom had three under 12 boys at home that she got sick of. So my dad ended up buying himself and all three of us go-karts.

And we all went to the track together on the weekends. And it started out as, you know, we'd go to the track for fun on the weekends. Here? This was before track house was even built. So this was Carolina Motorsports Park in South Carolina. And it started out as a hobby. And then we started traveling to Florida and, you know, the snowball continued to roll. And one thing led to the next.

I started racing in Europe and go-karts. And, you know, I never expected to become a NASCAR driver one day. I never even had that idea in the back of my mind. I always love sports cars and, you know, just wanted to find a way to make a career racing, whether it was, you know, being a coach and making, you know, livable money or, you know, whatever I could do. So yeah, to be sitting here today is definitely nothing I could have ever imagined, but it surely has been a lot of fun. When you went through that process, you mentioned going to Europe, you mentioned starting here.

Your parents were obviously pretty involved. And, you know, I think that your relationship with your family, because you're pretty well-rounded for a kid for your age. And that's the thing that I always tell people is how well-rounded you are, how well you speak. Is that a personality trait you got from mom, dad? where did that come from because your personality is pretty fun yeah I I would say both my parents my mom good answer she was she was an Olympian and and she was a gymnas she was a gymnast and you know she had the very competitive you know serious mindset and and I always learned that from her and my dad worked at Wells Fargo for over 25 years and and he had the business mindset that I've

always kind of admired and learned from and as I've gotten older I've learned to respect it more and I didn't realize really how smart he was until I became 19 years old or 18. And so I've got two great parents that both, you know, definitely allowed me to learn a lot from them. And I definitely grew a lot as a human. And, you know, sometimes my dad would try to give me advice on the racetrack and that advice was maybe a little less well taken. But certainly the people they are off the track has helped mold me into who I am today and get me to where I am.

So how hard has that been for dad and mom to kind of have to separate going with you all the time? They can go, but, you know, being less involved, how is the family conversation and dynamic of that work with this transition? I look at some of your dad's Facebook posts, and I feel his pain. You know, you have to, you let go of some of that stuff, but how has that gone at home with that conversation? Because it can be hard to let go when you're that involved with the career of your child. Yeah, yeah. My dad was everything at one point. He was my manager, my, my home motor home driver,

my mechanic at even one point earlier on. How was that? He thought he was my coach. But that was a long time ago. Was he a good mechanic? He did his job and he quickly realized that he wasn't suited for the job and couldn't do it the right way. So he learned to hire somebody quickly. But yeah, I think growing up it was, you know, my dad was around me the entire time.

And he was the one that made it all happen. And as I've grown up and started to kind of take on this professional role, you know, I've needed him less and less and more so have just leaned on him for advice. And there has definitely been arguments along the way of, you know, where the inclusion should stand and how it should work. But at the end of the day, and both my parents are just very proud of, you know, how far I've come and really just what my life has turned into over the last few years. And, you know, it's hard for them at times to let me go into the world and be an adult,

but at the same time they know I'm ready for it. When you look back at all the traveling, all the go-kart racing, everything that you did, when did you think that, man, I could make a career out of this or what your path was going to be? When did those thoughts that you can remember start to cross your mind? I think the very first time I thought, man, maybe I am. am better at this than I thought I was. I was 11 years old and I was in Italy. It was my first time ever traveling to Europe to race and I had won a championship here in America that gave me a ticket, quote unquote, to go race in the world championships in Italy. And there was 163 other kids in my

class and I ended up winning the world championship at 11 years old. And after that, that's kind of the reason I continued to go back. The team wanted to have me back. And we were able to make it happen. And after I won that race, I started to realize that, you know, this was a dream of mine. And I wanted to do it for the rest of my life and that it wasn't just a hobby anymore. So, yeah, I started taking things seriously then. And, you know, I raced in Europe for summers and gave up school. I switched to online school and started to really kind of go all in on it. And I think when I really realized that I could make it to where I am today, it was honestly when I met you.

and you were able to point me in the right direction. And, you know, obviously I met the people at Chevy at a young age. And when Kyle was racing the go-cart here, I met Josh Wise. And, you know, he was able to get me with Dr. Warren at GM. And, you know, those people definitely made a lot of the early, early, you know, career endeavors come true with the late models and everything I raced when I was 15 or 16 years old. And, yeah, that was really where it all started for me.

and what kind of led me down this path. So when you look back at the open wheel side of things, you go to Europe and I've experienced some of that with Keelan, and there's a lot of vultures over there looking for the next F1 star. And Will Buxton and I talked about this. You were probably the best prospect for an American F1 driver to actually be competitive

and win and be in the right position. Did any of that ever happen? Was there ever a time where it was like, hey, we want to sign you to be in Williams or Red Bull or whatever that is. Was there ever a time when you thought you were headed down that path? Because everything that I experienced in go-karts, every kid in this paddock wants to be an F-1 driver. Every kid in Europe wants to be an F-1 driver.

Was there ever any talk about going down that path? Yeah, that was always, I think every kid who comes to these tracks dreams of being the next Max for Staff in and racing an F-1 and being that global superstar. And that was, you know, I had the same. dreams at one point in time as well. And I think for me, at a young age, I quickly realized how difficult, I wouldn't say, I'm not going to say, unrealistic. A lot of politics. I'll say it. Yeah, I'm not going to say unrealistic, but it's, it's very, very, very difficult, especially

at that time as an American. I think nowadays, honestly, I think it's easier as an American, especially with Cadillac coming in F1 and also just with Drive to Survive. I think that has completely changed the landscape of American drivers and how Americans kind of treat F1. It's taken a lot more seriously in our country and that's why we're getting more races. That's why there's, you know, 400,000 fans at F1 races. And I think if I had that back in my day, it would have maybe been a little bit different. But, you know, at this point, I wouldn't trade what I have now for anything. You know, getting to live, I still live with my mom and dad.

You live in the basement? Yeah, I'm not in the basement. I'm still upstairs. I haven't graduated to the basement yet, but I just, I love the kind of the at-home feeling I have here and getting to wake up and go downstairs and say hello to my parents each morning. And at the end of the day, I'm still a kid, right? I'm 19 years old and I kind of sometimes lose track of that.

And I have to remind myself often that, you know, at the end of the day, I might be a professional NASCAR driver I might have a career in my lap but I still want to be a kid I want to go do things that kids do and have fun and you know that's that's what you know a balance that I deal with do you keep in contact with any of the kids that you raced with during that time period from carding and and or over there that are in the probably the same ranks as you are now and in their perspective division yeah I I have I've talked to some of them and obviously I raced against the guys like Kimmy, Antonelli, and Arvid Lindblad, who are racing an F1 now. And, you know, I've definitely kept track of them and followed them.

I can't say I've been able to see any of them much or anything like that. But it's really cool to be able to follow, you know, the friends you made. I lived with some of those kids for months on end and went to dinner with them every night. And, you know, I come back to America and I start chasing a different dream. And you kind of lose sight of, you know, those people that became some of your closest friends. at the time. So I definitely still follow a lot of them from afar and get to kind of cheer them on in their own discipline, but it's cool to see how many of the kids I race against are kind of making their way up to that level. Yeah, you've got a great generation of drivers that you can

follow along forever. And you hope that it winds up being at 24 hours of Daytona and all the sports car races used to be where all the NASCAR drivers, IndyCar drivers, sports car drivers gathered once a year and obviously you get to experience that at a high level. So as you look to now, you wind up with one of the brilliant marketing minds in the sport with Justin Marks. I see you've got Red Bull on your hat. There's not really probably anybody other in the garage that can pull that off. What's it been like with Justin? I mean, he's out there as far as his ideas and thinking of not thinking like a normal NASCAR owner. How has all that? How has all that gone with the transition you had just an unbelievable year last year at junior motorsports but that's

really something that Justin and Chevy you all put together and you got to experience it at a high level but what's it been like with Justin at track house yeah it's it's definitely been you know a life changing you know Justin's been life changing for me um the opportunities he's he's given me and just he signed me at the end of 23 this was before I had won my first Daytona 24 this was before I even and, you know, raced in, you know, ARCA full time. You know, this was early on in my career, and we were teammates at a race one time, and I ended up winning that race by 45 seconds, I think,

and it was shortly thereafter. Not just by a little bit. It was a lot. Shortly thereafter, that's when he, you know, came to me and wanted to sign me as a development driver. And I didn't really know what that entailed at the time. Obviously, it was more than anything I had at that moment. So it was an awesome.

opportunity for me to get to go race more often and get to go sit in faster race cars, you know, when I did go to the track. And for me, that's what I needed. That's all I needed was a chance to go prove myself. And Justin gave me that. And, you know, it's so cool three years after that to not even three, two and a half years after that, to be sitting in one of his cup cars as, you know, a driver in the cup series. So yeah, I definitely have to give a lot of props to Justin. and one for having the, you know, just willingness to sign a, at the time, 17-year-old who hadn't done much. And two, for allowing me to learn and grow at my own pace and give me these opportunities to go out and do what I do. When you look at where you're at on the Cupside, hardest transition in racing going from O'Reilly Series to the Cups Series.

And how much of that have you started to realize? You hadn't even been on a racetrack for a full season yet, but you got a little bit of a taste of it for a couple races. And now you're getting ready to jump in all the way, full season. What's been your assessment of how things are going to go so far? The on track stuff is, we'll get into that in a second, but just with time and attention, and it's at a high level. So it's not something that everybody deals with well. Yeah, that's definitely something that has become new to me is just the amount of time and the amount of time. of commitments that I have being a Cup Series driver and it certainly is different

than anything I've ever done. You know I only spent one year in the O'Reilly Series I came up quick and and didn't have a bunch of time to get my feet set and and now I'm going into my first cup season and things are different than they've ever been for me and you know having to deal with so many different sponsors and having to you know deal with the commitments of of being a cup driver in the meetings and the people that are on my team and having to know everybody and deal with it on a daily basis is certainly a bigger commitment than I ever could have imagined. I don't know how you would travel to the track on weekends and go visit Keelan at the go-cart track.

I had a jet. I'm not there yet. But yeah, you don't realize how much of a commitment it is, right? The fans, they see these people, they go to the track, they fly in on a jet on Friday, and they leave on Sunday night, and they're like, man, these people live the life. And we do live the life. It is awesome. But there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that not everybody sees that I didn't even know about 12 months ago. When you talk about your team, Randall Burnett, obviously your crew chief, new relationship, has had some success in the past.

What are the expectations that you guys? Have you set goals? I wouldn't, I'm not a big goal setter, right? I struggle with the idea of, and I was the same way last year. I think especially this year, I think goals are, you know, just a tough subject because for me, I don't, I don't really know what to expect, one, because it's a completely different series, right? The Cup series is a whole new ball game compared to what Saturdays is and every driver that I've talked to that races on Sundays will tell you that and they will tell you straight up. And that's why you see every time a cup driver comes down and races in the O'Reilly series, they are always contending for wins and they're always among the best. And it's just because the talent level is so much higher.

And also, you know, I feel like racing for me. I struggle, I've always struggled to set expectations. At a young age, I always had expectations for myself and I'd show up to the track and maybe my motor wasn't good that weekend. And I couldn't live up to the expectations. And at the end of the day, I would blame it on myself. And it would only dig me down this deeper hole of just beating myself up for something I didn't have control of. And that's the same thing, no matter what team you race for. You're going to have weeks where, you know, things just aren't going to go your way. You know, your car might not be right. Someone else takes you out. There's so many different variables in racing. And I think that expectations are just tough to manage at times.

Especially when you don't know. Yeah. There's so many unknowns for me. I don't even know, you know, what to expect and I wish I had a better answer but you know that's just the way it is for me and I just want to go have fun honestly I I'm so young I you know there's a lot of guys that talk about getting burnout and not enjoying it anymore and I don't want that to be me especially at my age I want to be able to go to the track and say that I'm having fun and truly mean it and I think to do that you got to have fun you have to enjoy it the good days there's going to be a lot of bad days but through it all that's kind of my main goal is just to enjoy it and not let the pressure be too much what about your teammates obviously you know you've got I would put you in

the category that's coming quickly of going to be one of the best road racers in in in due time but you're teamed up with one of the best road racers in the world that we've ever seen and then you've got Ross who has been at the bottom worked his way to the top How have those guys been in just what you've, you know, been through so far from the team standpoint and who have you utilized with trying to figure out what it's like going forward? Yeah, I've got two really, really good teammates to lean on. One with Shane, who has been racing for a very long time and obviously is kind of new to all of the NASCAR world and certainly set the world on fire last year on the road courses and won five races. and then Ross, who has, you know, worked his tail off to get to where he is today. And, you know, his work ethic is certainly, you know, among the best.

Yeah. Nobody works harder. Yeah, he is a hard worker. And I respect the heck out of him for what he does to make, you know, to make what everything he does possible. You know, he's just, he's a go get him kind of guy. And, you know, I certainly have learned a lot from just watching him work. and show up to the track each weekend and the things he does to prepare. And, you know, he's been a guy that I've leaned on,

not only just coming into this season as a cup driver, but in the past as an ARCA driver, as an O'Reilly driver, he's just a guy that I feel like always has a different set of advice than I may think or get from other people. And I think to have the two of those guys, we all get along really well, it's going to be very helpful. And I'm certainly glad I'm teammates with Shane, because if I lose to him, I can't say, well, it was my car.

When you get away from your teammates and your team, you know, you have a great relationship with Jesse. Who's your biggest critic outside of, on what you did during a race? Who would you say that the biggest critic is for you, that you're like, man, that was dumb? Is there somebody that you have that gives you that advice straight up? Yeah, I would say there's two people. I think Josh Wise, obviously, I've been with Josh, and he's been kind of my mentor for the last four years, I think, and also Scottsby, they work together.

And, you know, I can win a race. And I'll come in into the gym on Monday, and I'll think, man, they're going to give me some props for what I did this past weekend. And, you know, I hear more about what I did wrong than what I did right. And that's what I need. I don't like, and I've always been this way, whenever somebody has asked me what kind of crew chief I want or, you know, anybody a part of my team, I don't want cheerleaders. That's never been me.

I've always said that I want someone who's going to tell me straight up what I'm doing wrong. For me, it's so hard to learn when you have someone on the radio telling you you're doing, you're doing great when you're running 30th because I'm not doing great. I'm doing something wrong and I want to know that. So yeah, I've been able to learn from them a lot and they've been honest with me every step of the way when I do good things and when I do wrong. And those are the people that I think younger kids don't realize they need. as much as they do.

So one thing I always thought you were really good at in the carding was critiquing yourself. So you pretty much said that. When you look at, I mean, you had some of the data last year. You were always buried in the data with the go-kart stuff and really good at it. How far into that are you? I mean, are you going to be a deep dive guy? Are you going to be the guy that has the SMT up and running or whatever they call it now? Are you diving into that yourself?

Yeah, I've always been, you know, big into the data. I think that's one of the things carding teaches you that a lot of other forms of racing growing up can't. And whether I'm in the simulator and you've got the little tablet next to you, every time I get on the straightaway, I look over and see what I did the last corner that was right or wrong. And I certainly am very much into analytics and data and the facts because data doesn't lie. And I've known that since I was seven or eight years old. Got a self-critique. Yeah.

I mean, at the end of the day, you know, what you did wrong is what you did wrong. and you got to know that as soon as you do it. So, you know, I'm not going to bore myself with SMT. I'm not going to dive so deep into it that I get sick of it. But when I'm slow, I'm going to want to know why I'm slow. And that's certainly, you know, the best way to look at it is to see what I can do as a driver that will help me go faster. And, you know, if I'm not doing, you know, my job to the best of my ability, I need to know what I can do differently.

When you look at everything that you've been able to, go through with Red Bull. I mean, it's not very often that we talk about a sponsor brand and things that happen on that side of the world as a specific subject. But they're heavily involved in all the crazy sports and stunts and things like that. When you look at representing that brand, what does that mean to you? And is there anything that has been fun to do so far with them? Yeah, I've done a lot of very, very cool things, whether it's going to the F1 races or I went Austria this past summer and got to put on a show with Max Verstappen and and Mark Mattishtz, the owner was there and, you know, there was Dakar Rally cars and the F1 car and

we brought a NASCAR over there and, you know, we got to do donuts in front of a bunch of people and drive down an airway and, you know, there's just so many cool things that you get to do as a Red Bull athlete. And whenever I meet a new athlete, I always feel like the biggest loser because all I do is drive a big, heavy stock car around. And these people are jumping off cliffs and jumping out of planes and doing crazy, crazy, life-threatening things. But every single person that you meet who is sponsored by Red Bull and is a Red Bull athlete is at the very, very top of their game

and whatever sport or event they do. And I think that's the coolest part about it, is just getting to hear the stories of the people that you are surrounding yourself with and are in the same kind of club with. So yeah, it's very cool to have them back in the sport. Red Bull is a very unique sponsor and the fact of how they market themselves and the things they do. And I think the fans enjoy it too.

So what else does a 19 year old do outside of racing, outside of cool sponsor? Do you have a hobby? Do you have anything else that you like to do? I sometimes try to hit a golf ball with a stick, but I'm horrible at that. I love watching sports in the summers. I live on a lake, so I got on the lake and wake surf a lot. In the winters, I like to ski. But yeah, I just, at the end of the day, I'm still a kid.

And I like to hang out with my friends, and, you know, we go to dinner together all the time. And whether it's Jesse or Brent or whoever it is, you know, we have our group and we always end up around each other. And, you know, when we go to the track on the weekends, we're there to be serious and we're there to do our jobs. and when we come home on Monday or Tuesday, the last thing we want to talk about is racing. We just want to be kids. So I'm glad I have a group of friends that is so similar-minded as me, and we can all just get away from it when we need to.

So, yeah, I'd say, you know, I'm not very different from your average. Are you a book reader? I'll read books. Is there something that you like to, like, I'm interested in that. Do you like aliens? I'm not an alien. I'm not an alien seeker. I'll read books.

I love TV shows. What's your favorite TV show? Stranger Things. Stranger Things. Yeah, that was a good one. That was good. But yeah, I read books every now and then my dad will tell you I'm lying if I say that, but he doesn't see it. But yeah, I love working out.

I'm always trying to better myself and, you know, try and make myself as good as possible. How fast do you think you could run around the track at Bowman Gray? It's quarter mile. I don't know. What do you think? What's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your mile average pace right now? Is it, are you a jogger? Uh, my, my, my, my, my, my fastest mile is, what, I played soccer growing up, so I'm a natural runner, but okay, um, I think I could do a lap at Bowman Gray in a minute and four seconds. One lap, that's only a quarter mile. Yeah. So what you're saying is you probably, no, minute 10, minute 10. Minutes. All right, so you think you could make two laps faster than Boyer can run one? How long did he take? I don't know, but I want to find out.

That's my point. I want to find out if you can run two laps. I don't know if I could do two in the time he can do one. He'd probably kill himself trying. So I guess the last thing that I'll ask is I guess not going to college was a good decision. Have you told the story? Well, I guess I can tell the story. So his dad came to me right here one day.

We were standing in the tent and his dad, I went to his dad and I said, hey, you know, I really think that you should give Connor the opportunity to kind of pursue the racing career. What are your plans? He's like, well, I think I'm just going to get the Miata, send him to college, and we'll see where it goes from there. But that was dad's plan. And at that point, I think anybody who knew anything about racing realized that you had a good chance at having a great career at this. So I'd say it all worked out pretty good. Yeah. And I'd say I wouldn't be sitting here without you either. So thank you. Your talent is what gave you the opportunity. to get to the next step.

So it's been fun to watch. Obviously, I take a little bit of sense of pride because of the fact of just those core group of kids. The go-kart kids are way more prepared than most of the kids that do it at a high level, and you've been around the world and seeing all that. So it's been fun to watch. I can't wait to hear this story

and talk to you in about July when we're done with the summer because you're going to get burned out at some point. You're going to be tired, burned out, frustrated, mad, but that's what makes cup racing great. So it's a great challenge and you're going to do a great job at it. Thank you. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be fun most of the time and sometimes it's going to suck. It's not going to be fun all the time. That's right.