The Dale Jr. Download - 566 - Connor Zilisch & Justin Marks: The Future is Here

Episode Date: August 7, 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with one of the top prospects in the stock car racing world Connor Zilisch to learn about his career and upbringing in the sport. Owner of Trackhouse Racing Justin Marks joins them to announce that Connor will be racing full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025 in partnership with JR Motorsports. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download, and we've got some great guests coming on to the show today. A driver that I've wanted to get in here for a long time, his name's Connor Zillich. He's a young prospect. He's got big things on the horizon, and there's a big announcement in today's show that you're going on to hear. Let's get started. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. You're Dale Jr.

Download. Del, Del Jr. Download. Del, Del, Del, Jr., download. Go, stop. Roll. your download starts now. All right, we're back in the Dirty Mo Media Studio for the Allied guest segment, and if you watched on social media today,

you saw that Junior Motorsports teased an announcement, and that announcement is here. Connor Zilich is coming on the show to announce that he will be driving for Junior Motorsports in the Xfinity Series next year. We are incredibly excited about that, and I want to learn more about Conner Zilich, and I want you to learn more about Conner Zilich. there's another component to this, and that is Justin Marks.

He is sort of tabbed or signed Connor underneath the trackhouse banner, if you will. And so, you know, we're all going to be a part of this little process of trying to get Connor to where he wants to go in the future. And we couldn't be more thrilled. Connor has an untraditional route to his NASCAR career. And I want all of us to sort of dive into the. that today and in a long-form conversation with Connor. I've raced with him at the Cars Tour. It's a great little kid, you know, has a really cool head on his shoulders and seems to, you know, if you were going to take a prospect and try

to create something really exciting, he is an awesome starting point. So, you know, we're going to hear from him. Also, Justin will step in for a little bit to tell his involvement as well. Let's get right to him. Well, Connor Zilich and Justin Marks are here today for our guest segment of the Dale Jr. Download. I'm pumped up about this. We got a lot to get to. And so, Justin, why are you here? I want to, I was going to have Connor come on the show and tell me all about his life, right? This is a little brief life he's had, all the things that he's packed into these handful of years. But you're here as well, and there's a great reason for that. Yeah. And we drop it? Yeah. All right. Well, we got Connor a job.

and I'm really, really excited that we've been able to partner with JRM and give Connor an opportunity to drive full-time in the X-FINI Series next year for junior motorsports. Yeah, it's going to be big for me. You know, this is a lifetime of an opportunity to come here and race at JRM. So many guys in the Cup Series have gone through this building and, you know, just proven winners. And, you know, every year, every race, these guys come out and bring fast cars. and it's going to be an honor to drive for Dale and everyone at Junior Motorsports. Yeah, you're going to get in the number 88, which has been doing some good work this year on the racetrack,

and you've been doing some great work as well in just about everything you drive. But I want to ask you, Justin, when did you first recognize the ability that he had that makes you want to make this commitment? it. Well, I mean, I think it started, you know, it started Trackhouse having the discussion really a year ago, a year and a half ago, you know, and thinking about the trajectory of our cup team and the future, the three-year plan, the five-year plan, and recognizing that we need to start making the investments and the decisions to try to control some of our destiny, find opportunities for the future. And, you know, that conversation quickly, you know, went to drivers. And we need to find somebody, you know, young to get in the system that we can help develop and give great opportunities for. And, you know, that's with the goal of having a cup championship contender in our car in the future. And, you know, if that was about the time, Connor was starting to make really a lot of noise. And, you know, everybody was, you know, starting to learn the name and pay attention to him. And, you know, Connor had been up the motorplex, you know, racing and I was sort of, you know, aware and watching him.

And, you know, as more and more time went by, you know, there was, it really became clear that there was something special there. I mean, I think, you know, there's a lot of talent in stock car racing coming up through the ranks right now. There's a lot of speed. And I think really the differentiator, when you're trying to think of the long-term vision and think of, you know, what's going to be successful in years down the road is a lot of the stuff around the speed. You know, it's maturity, it's authenticity. It's, you know, a great story, a great work ethic, drive, all that. And, you know, Connor, you know, demonstrated really quickly that a lot of those boxes were checked.

And, you know, at the end of the day, he's a winner. I mean, just, you know, it's going fast is one thing, but being able to close the deal and win races, that's what pays the bills. And so we just got really, really excited about it and started talking to him and his management and then you. Well, I am excited to be able to be a part of your career. I think a lot of people have you tabbed as one of the very top prospects in our sport. and so, you know, Junior Motorsports can be a part of your ascension to the top level. We're thrilled. There'll be a lot of people in the building excited about that as well.

But your ascension, I guess, has been fast. And so, you know, I think we'll talk about your career and your motorsports career, but how do you measure too fast? How do you measure, how do you make sure this process? benefits you and Trackhouse, but also benefits Connor so that he, you know, he's processing, learning and doing the things he needs to do. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a, it's sort of a journey, not a destination. I mean, like we're sort of learning as we go. I mean, you know, I will say the, the interesting thing about talent right now, and you know this as well as anybody, there are so

many tools, sophisticated tools that are available to these guys at a younger and younger and younger age. It's access to SIM, access to, you know, the tools that the cup teams have, and just a lot of racing to be able to do. So, you know, I think that the sort of the readiness to be able to compete at the top level for elite talents like Connor is, you know, that age is going to get younger and younger and younger as they have so many more, so much more access to the tools. So, you know, I think we'll sort of learn as we go a little bit. I think, you know, one of the things that really attracted us to Connor is that, you know,

his rate of adaptability. That's one of the things I think that probably is a big differentiator when you're looking at the entire talent pool, is just how fast somebody can be in a new situation, learn the race car, learn the race, learn the racetrack when they haven't been in that situation before. And, you know, Connor went MSA racing this year and won the 24 hours of Daytona in his first crack at it, won the 12 hours of streaming his first crack at it, you know, first time in a truck, a coat on, pull by a second. It's just being able to learn, learn so quickly.

So, you know, that's going to be kind of the guiding principle as we, you know, help him and work with you guys and kind of, you know, determining what the future looks like. But, you know, I think we'll take it just sort of race by race and, you know, just make sure that there's good balance in life, too. That, you know, it's like we're putting in the work and we're putting in the races, but we have some fun doing it and just kind of let it play out a little bit. But I think what's great here is, you know, being able to run full time for the Xfinity championship, that's going to be a great season long, singular commitment to really, really say, okay, you know, he's done so many different types of racing, but it's like next year I am an Xfinity series racer in NASCAR and this is what I'm going to focus on. Yeah, well, how will that feel now that, you know, because I think you've, you've kind of lived this life to where you're moving around into a lot of different cars and

competing in so many different variants of motorsports. And so now are you ready to single single it down to one focus. Yeah, it's definitely going to be helpful for me to be able to put all my eggs in one basket, be able to put all my focus towards one series and one car. And, you know, every week I'll be thinking of the same thing going into the race weekend. And that's going to help me for sure with preparation and everything I do. Because right now, when I show up to the racetrack, I sometimes don't even remember what car I'm going to be driving when I get there. So, yeah, this year's been really, really busy for me,

driving so many different race cars from, you know, sports cars in MSA to, arc of cars to trucks and soon Xfinity cars, so many different kinds of vehicles that, you know, I can't really put as much focus as I want to into each series I'm racing. So next year, being able to go full-time Xfinity racing and focus on one series and be able to race for a championship for, you know, 30-plus weekends. It's going to be, it's going to be valuable for me. And, you know, it's going to be a big learning year as well. I think some people sometimes may forget my first overrace was June of 2022. So, you know, I haven't been doing this stuff for as long as some of these guys who grew up racing quarter midgets and got into a late model when they were 10. And, you know,

it's all, it's all still new to me. Every time I go out and race the arc car, every time I go out and race the late model, I'm always learning something every time I go out there. And that's why I enjoy racing the late model so much is because it's not the series where I can go out and expect to win every race, especially in the car sewer because of how competitive it is and how tough it is to go out and win those races. It's a fight to finish 10th sometimes. So for me, that's what I enjoy the most, going out and learning, you know, in races where I know that I may not win when I show up. And, you know, I may not win every race that I do in that series. And I definitely won't because how competitive it is. But I enjoy that process and being able to learn from all those guys in

that series. There's so much talent there that I can learn from. So, you know, whenever I get the chance to race in the cars tour, I appreciate it and I definitely do learn from it. So do you know yet what else you will still continue to be able to do? Because while we, while we all can agree that focusing on the Xfinity series and obviously maximizing your ability to learn as much as you can to prepare you for the top level of the Cup series, that's important. But there is so much more still for you to learn. And the Xfinity series and the Cup series have their own differences where you can maybe go do other things that will continue to help you as you try to become a cup driver.

So I know the schedule will be tight, but there are some off weekends. Where would you put your focus, given the opportunity to go race, whether it's MSA or Trans Am or what have you? Because I would assume that if you're thinking, Cup is where I want to be, you're going to try to get into something that's going to put you on a road course, where I know you already have tons of experience. But that's become such a major focus at the Cup level where we, you know, 30 years ago we had one road course race on the schedule. Well, now it's almost a third of the schedule. So what would your focus be when given those opportunities to step back outside of the Xfinity Series? Yeah, for me, I feel like, you know, obviously at the beginning of the year, when I can go and race the 24 hours of Daytona, that's one race.

I want to be able to do again. And that event was so cool to race in this past year and winning it was not even explainable. So that's one I want to get back to. And then throughout the year, honestly, I want to run more truck and even Archer races if I have the opportunity. opportunity to next year just to get lapsed because I'm going to show up to so many of these racetracks for the first time and any laps I can get you know you get 20 30 minutes of practice when you show up and you know all three national series so you don't get a ton of track time before you're going out and qualifying and then you're going straight into the race so any track time that

you can get before that is valuable and for me laps are the most important thing not even going to be next year but this year as well that's why you know for me we're going to run the roval this year in the Xfinity car and we switched it out for Homestead because that's a track where I want to go to and I want to get laps at because it's in the playoffs. You know, it's going to be important next year to be to be good at that track. So there's so many of those tracks that I want to get to and something else other than the Xfinity car when I show up next year. But weekends off, I mean, there's so many opportunities. You know, I've always wanted to get in a sprint car, but that's, that might not be allowed in the contract. But, you know, there's so many different vehicles

I want to race in. I've said this a lot, but, you know, a guy I look up to Kyle Larson, he just wants to race in everything and wants to win in everything and wants to be competitive and everything he gets in. And with him, I feel like he's the kind of guy that'll keep doing it until he's competitive at it. So that's the kind of driver I want to be. I want to be able to go out and compete in anything and be the best in any series I get in. Do you have partners that are on board to support his career through this process? Yeah, for sure. We do. And we're excited about making those announcements.

I think what's exciting about, you know, the support we have for, for Connor is, is, you know, you know, sponsorship

in the Xfinity series is difficult. It's expensive series to run. And, you know, we have, we have real, real commercial sponsors

behind him that, that value him and see the value of the XFinity series, sponsors that are connected to our cup cars that are, that are, you know, real great sort of,

sort of holistic partners in the ecosystem of trackhouse. So, you know, I think from the sponsor standpoint, the Chevrolet standpoint and then obviously being being partnered with you guys on this. I think there is an ecosystem of support around Connor that's really, really in a great place to just

support him and help him move up on the trajectory. So yeah, we're excited about that. I want to give you the opportunity to, before you get out of here, I wanted to see if you could give me kind of a state of the union for track house. You guys have, you know, you've been in the series to a point now where I think you've got to. got your feet underneath you. You've won some races. You understand exactly what you're doing with your business model. You've also taken on some investor and some partners there to continue to strengthen your program. You came in with a vision of how you thought it could be, and you've evolved and changed that to an extent. But things from the outside look incredibly successful.

You also have, you know, and you constantly are reminding us of this, track house is more than just a cup program. You know, you're reaching into multiple forms of motorsport and entertainment. So, yeah, I mean, where do you, where do things stand and what's the future? Well, I could talk for 15 minutes on that answer. I mean, you know, I mean, I think today, you know, if you look at, if you look at the NASCAR side, you know, these, When we came in in 2022, so if you look at the Cup series with the new car, in 22, we had 19 or 20 winners, then we had 17 winners. And then, you know, it's like, as these teams are starting to, these big teams are starting to figure this car out. The window is getting smaller and smaller and smaller to be successful in Cup.

And so, you know, some will say that's the cream rising to the top. But, you know, ultimately, I think for Trackhouse right now, you know, we, we are motivated to really take a look at our business and understand what's it going to take to, continue to win, what's it going to take to be able to contend for a championship year and year out. That means, you know, making investments in people, investments in tools, building engineering depth, all of that. I mean, so we're going through the process right now of really doing that self-audit. Where are we as a company? Where do we want to be as a company and how do we get there? And that's a strategic discussion that's happening, you know, within the technical teams and in the competition teams. And then business ops and commercial sales, all that also.

So it's, I don't call it a transitional time, but it's a time where it's like, okay, we've got our feet underneath us. And, you know, we've got some wins on the board and we've got, you know, great talent in the building. You know, how do we sustain that? And then how do we grow from where we're at right now? Because it's, you know, like I said, it's the Cup series doesn't get easier. It gets harder. And we want to be able to continue to, you know, to contend for wins and ultimately win a championship. So that's the NASCAR side.

I mean, on the business side, you know, track house entertainment group is a, you know, is a global motorsports competition platform. And that's a big statement to say. But it's ultimately been the vision since day one is not to be a Cup Series team, but to build a great motorsports company that finds opportunities on all different types of racing around the world.

That's why we took advantage the opportunity to enter the MotoGP World Championship with the motorcycles. And, you know, it's a conversation now that we're having with the Avenue Sports Fund that came in and took a minority position is, you know, how do we take, how do we take their connections, their ecosystem, and their experience and their capital

to really have a build a three to five year plan to build track house into, you know, one of the most exciting and diverse and sort of compelling motorsports brands in the world, which is, which is a big, like I said, it's a big statement, but it's, you know, it's, it's what I want to do. But we have to be measured in it, measured how we grow and make sure that, you know, that nothing is being sacrificed along the way that there's a strategy around it. So, you know, that's all to say that we're exploring all different kinds of opportunities, but challenging ourselves to make sure that growth is measured and that it's really part of a strategy.

So, yeah, I mean, right now, it's, you know, we're growth-minded and investment-minded. And, yeah, I'm just really, I mean, I'm excited about the future because at the end of the day, we just love racing. And there's just a lot of racing to do. And there's a lot of opportunity out there in the racing world. We want to be a big part of it. What part of racing in, what part of the racing world are you not in that you want to get in? Oh, man. I mean, you know, I'd love to see, I'd love to see a trackhouse car in the Indianapolis 500.

I mean, that's something that I've talked about. You know, I'm, I also, there's these marquee events around the world, these really special marquee events that represent the history and the passion and really, you know, what moves the needle for motorsports. and, you know, whether that's 24 hours of LaMalle or the Indianapolis 500. I mean, I've been watching rally lately. I mean, there's just, there's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff out there. But, but I mean, with the two that we have right now, I mean, everything has happened so

quickly here. And it's like, you know, we, we got an opportunity to join the Moto GP World Championship, you know, basically in October of last year. And so that all happened really, really quickly. And we've had to do a lot of work to get there. So it's like, you know, on the, on the growth standpoint, as far as more race cars goes, We have to kind of take a breath and just sort of take stock of where we're at. How do we make sure that the two assets that we've got, motorcycles and NASCAR are where they need to be and on the path they need to be?

And then, you know, the future will be what it is. But, you know, I think I couldn't sit here and tell you this is where we want to race. This is what's next because I went to MotoGP last summer just to get ideas for branding for the NASCAR team and started looking around and asking questions and went like, well, this is actually one of the coolest things in all the motorsports and probably one of the greatest values in all of motorsports. And then I started, you know, that kind of opportunity presented itself a little bit. So the next one might organically happen that way if we just put ourselves in that position. Really cool, man. It's awesome you're traveling around and you're all, you'll go to great links to try to learn how to make, you know, one part of your business work and expand it in other areas.

So pretty impressive. Always, always have been an impressive person to me. I appreciate you. Value your friendship and value what you're doing for young drivers like Connor here, giving them opportunities. You brought a ton of opportunity to the NASCAR world. I know for sure and excited for what you'll do in the future, man. Thanks for joining us.

Yeah, thank you. I mean, you asked me about the future, and this kid right here is a big part of it, so we're really excited to have them in the house and really fortunate that we have an opportunity to be able to partner with Junior Motorsports and watch them cook. Yeah, we'll try to see if we can't get him out there

and some winning race cars. It's going to be good. Yeah, I'm excited. Thank you, Justin. Thank you. All right, man, we'll let you take off. I know you got somewhere to go. You know you're a real race fan when you get the diecast car of your favorite driver.

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All right, so Connor, the boss man is gone. You've got a lot of bosses. You're going to have Kelly as a boss now going in the next year with the Xfinity series. But I've had the opportunity to race with you, be around you. I think a lot of people are starting to pay attention. So this won't be a surprise to a lot of people. but as we said when Justin was here, there's always this little list of these guys

are the next group, you know, that are going to come into the sport that we need to pay attention to. Some are going to work out. Some won't work out. But you're in that list. And especially when you get announced that you're going to race in the Xfinity Series for us next year, and you have full support from Justin and Trackhouse

to excel into the Cups. is you got this path ready for you if everything works in your favor and you do all the work. Your name instantly, that changes. That puts you in another level. So one thing that I've done to ask you is none of that seems to affect you. I don't know whether it's you're young and naive, whether, you know, you seem to be a little built a little different. and I don't see you getting nervous or feeling any kind of pressure. You seem excited about opportunity.

Talk about the emotion, I guess, that you're feeling as all this stuff is happening to you as you go through your journey. Yeah, there's one thing I kind of point to that kind of motivates me is Jimmy Johnson. You know, he wins two, three, four championships and doesn't stop being the hardest worker out there. And that's one thing I kind of look at and, you know, I talk to Josh Wise about it all the time. And, you know, some guys get to the top and then they get kind of complacent with where they're at and don't work as hard because they feel like they're doing what they need to do to be at the top. And, you know, Jimmy, he continued to work and be the hardest worker and the success continued. And for me, that's one thing. It's tough, right?

I'm 18. And, you know, I've all this opportunity and so much stuff is happening around me. And there's so many things for me that I'm doing for the first time. and it's not always easy, right? It's going to be hard, and there's going to be a lot of challenges, especially next year. Next year is going to be the biggest challenge for me by far in my career. It's such a big jump for me.

And, you know, you see me winning Arca races, and, you know, it's a whole different ballgame going to the X-FINY series, right? The Arc Series, I'm racing two, maybe three cars at a race. And, you know, you go to the X-Fini series, and there's 15 cars that are competitive. So it's going to completely change for me. And that's one thing when, you know, I'm winning these races. I keep in the back of my mind, I'm like, if I'm having to fight this

hard to beat one or two cars next year, I'm going to be fighting this hard to race 13 or 14 cars every week. So, you know, I just have to kind of remember my long-term goal and where I'm going to be and where I'm going to end up and kind of understand that it's not always going to be, say, easy, right? Winning races right now for me is obviously not easy. I do a lot of work and I put the work in to be competitive. But at the end of the day, when I move up and especially in the cup series even, right, you get to the cup series and everybody can win. Everybody's a X-Finity champion. Everybody's won truck races. Everybody's won these races that I'm going to be racing in next year. But it's kind of just in the back of my mind. And that continues to push me to be the best because you know,

you have all these kids that are coming up and, you know, you see them winning these races and then they kind of stop working hard because they feel like they're doing enough. And that's not going to be me. I want to continue to work hard. I'm still a long way from where I want to be, and I want to make it to the Cup Series. I want to be a champion in the Cup Series. And, you know, that's the goal for everyone, right? But there's a lot of work to get there. Yeah. You were born in Charlotte in 2006. You began racing go cars at age five in 2011. You're the first generation racer of your family. What, where was this racing connection born out of? What, what did, how did you convince your family that this is something that you wanted to do and you wanted them, you know, wanted them to support that.

Yeah, it's a funny story. My dad, he grew up with a single mother. His father passed away when he was six months old. So, you know, he grew up with a single mother. She was a school teacher. He grew up in Chicago, so obviously didn't have any money to go racing. He always liked cars growing up. He was a gearhead. And, you know, when he started, he worked at Wells Fargo, the Bank for his career for 27 years. And when I was four and a half years old, I was playing soccer. brothers. We're all playing soccer. I got two older brothers, four and six years older than me. So I was four and a half years old. I was playing soccer and my soccer coach recommended my dad. I think he saw him pull up in a car or something. And my dad used to take his car to the racetracks,

you know, VIR, the local road courses and just take it out and have fun. And I had two older brothers at the time. And my mom would get left with us on the weekends alone. And eventually she got frustrated because, you know, you got a four year old, you got an eight year old and a 10 year old. And, you It ain't always easy with kids that age. So she eventually called my dad crying one time and saying, you know, you can't leave me on the weekends. You know, I'm getting sick of it. So it was around that time where my soccer coach recommended to my dad that he gets us go-carts. So my dad sold his car.

He was taken to the racetrack and bought me and my two older brothers go-carts and took us with them. So, you know, my mom was happy and us as kids racing go-karts are not racing at the time. We started in Kershaw, South Carolina, CMP. So that was the first place we went. We lived in South Charlotte, so it was an hour drive. We'd, you know, pack them in the truck and go down to the racetrack on the weekend and just run laps. And that's how it started for me. From day one, you know, I was four and a half years old. I couldn't race yet. I would just go to the track. And in my little kid card, I'd run laps. And, you know, my dad knew that from day one, I loved it. So, you know, it's been a passion of mine for a long time. I've enjoyed it for as long as I've been doing it. And that's how it started for me. We started racing locally. And, then the team I race for went to Florida and we followed him to Florida and started racing. What about your brothers? My oldest brother actually is still involved in racing. He works for a small Xfinity team. My middle brother quit after about a year. He didn't enjoy it. He was a football player. So, you know, racing wasn't his thing. But, you know, it's cool that my older brother's still involved in it. And, you know,

he raced for quite a long time. He spent some time. He did a big race in Italy and finished pretty well. but once he went off to college, it kind of, the racing dream went away. And, you know, obviously for me, I was still young, so I still had time to kind of pursue it. But, you know, my whole family follows it. My dad's super supportive of it, even though, you know, sometimes, you know, he wasn't involved in racing as a kid like a lot of these kids' dads are. So, you know, sometimes he doesn't know what's best for me. And, you know, he's so supportive. But at the same time, it's both of our first times doing it. So, you know, I'm thankful to have a lot of great people around me who have who have answers to the questions that we have. And it's been really cool getting to live this dream out with my family and my dad.

So help me understand. So you end up going to South Garda, I guess that's how you pronounce that. You went to Italy and ran and won this world championship race in 2017. So, like, how do you even get there? Like, I know nothing about the karting world. I did some racing at Millbridge and some other dirt tracks, you know, running ovals on carts when I was little. But, you know, it was never going to go carting beyond that, you know, a little footprint. How does carting, how does that ladder happen?

Yeah. So one thing to kind of set the tone, for go-kart racing road courses, right, the pinnacle of go-kart racing is Formula One, right? every kid that starts in go-karts wants to race in Formula One. They all want to go to Europe and race the Formula Ladder Series and, you know, be the next Lewis Hamilton, be the next Max for Stappen. So for me as a kid, that was my dream as well, right? I didn't understand what it took at the time to get to Formula One, and I had no idea. I was just a kid that wanted to race.

And, you know, I got the opportunity to do that. I won a small, you know, a pretty big national championship here. and when you win a national championship here. We were racing all around the East Coast. It was World Carting Association of WCA. WCA. Yeah, exactly. So I won a WCA championship, and that gave me a ticket,

you know, an entry fee and all my, you know, some of my expenses paid to go to Europe and... Raced this race. Yeah, race this is the race. The world championship, yeah. You got the same cart and everything? So I race with a factory team over there. It was the same chassis.

I was racing in America. Go to Europe, all, pretty much all the same stuff. Same motor that I was racing here. Provided to you by this. factory team. Yeah. And is this team anybody that you knew beforehand? We knew all of them. So there's one big race in America in

Vegas called the Scusa Super Nationals. They race on the parking lot. Yeah, parking lot of a hotel in Vegas. So, you know, those big teams in Europe will sometimes come over for that race and, you know, I had met some of them. So when you go over there and you're going to run this cart in Italy, it's, I mean,

probably a fine cart, but they probably have multiple entries. Do you Do you know, like, is your cart as good as everybody else's cart? That's the thing. So I was, I went with a friend, Luke of Mars, and, you know, he at the time was a little bit better than me in go-carts. And, you know, when I went over there and, you know, spent my time in Europe, and it was

my first race, there's a practice weekend, a practice race the weekend before where most of the kids, there's 164 entries for this world championship race I'm competing in. And I'm going over there. And, you know, I just started winning races in America. And then you go to Europe and these kids, this is all they do. There's no dirt racing. There's no other kind of racing. Go-carts is their world.

So you go over there and all these kids are incredible, right? They're all super good and it's super competitive. It's like going from ARCA to cup in one weekend. So for me, I was expecting, you know, hopefully I'll go over there and I'll make the A main, the top 34 and I'll get the chance to race in the feature event. And, you know, I go there. I think I qualified 11th or something like that out of 164 carts and I'm like, man, like, I got a chance at this.

And then the heat races, there's groups A to N. There's so many heat races. So we go through the heat races and I end up, I'm starting the feature in 9th. And at this point, I'm like, I got a chance to win this race. And I ended up finishing second on track, but the kid in front of me got a penalty. He moved me on the last lap and he got a penalty for it. That's one thing in NASCAR that I've had to get used to is there's no penalties. So you can basically do whatever you want.

And I've grown up where contact is not allowed. And that's one thing SVGs even talked about is how different the racing is and how he's used to passing guys with finesse rather than using a bumper. So that's another thing for me that I've had to get used to. But yeah, so I end up winning this race. It's, you know, the biggest race in the world for kids my age, completely unexpected. And that's kind of the turning point in my career where I realized maybe I have a chance to make a career out of this. And, you know, maybe I have some talent. And I knew I was, you know, I felt confident myself before that, but going over there and winning a race like that at that age is big for a kid.

And, you know, that definitely changed the trajectory of my career. So what happens immediately after that race? People come up to you and they're like, all right, this is the next thing. This is, all right, we want you to do this. We want you to do that. What's the next step? Yeah. So the team, obviously, after that, they're like, all right, you've got to keep coming back now.

And that's kind of when, you know, I was still in school. at this time. I was in public school. I was still a normal kid, and they're telling this team wants me to race in Europe for, you know, racing full time in Europe. And, you know, at the time, my dad's like, no, like he's 11 years old. Like, you know, we'll come in the summers. And, you know, when he's on summer break, we'll come race. But he's still got to go to school. So what did you think about that? At the time, I was like, yeah, you know, I kind of believe my dad. I was like, okay, yeah, like, I'll come race in the summers. I'll race in America, you know, during the school year. And, you know, I would imagine that you would be so brokenhearted? I, you know, there was a piece of me that was like,

man, but at the same time, I kind of felt for my dad because, you know, funding a kid to go race, I mean, obviously the team would provide a lot of it, but still lodging and live. Everything, yeah, life in Europe is not cheap. So, you know, Andy's got to have someone there for me. He's still working a full-time job at the bank. And, you know, it's not easy to send a kid over there without any people or anything. So, you know, at the same time, I felt for my dad. And I understood that maybe it's not reasonable to do that. So, you know, I continue to race in America. And, you know, for karting, it's tough because the events are Thursday to Sunday, right? They're super long, whereas, you know, the late model stuff is one, maybe two-day shows. So as a seventh grader, a sixth grader,

I'm missing 50 days of school a year. And, you know, I was really good in school. I had good grades, but it's tough on a kid. It's a different lifestyle. And to get used to that at a young age is something that isn't really easy and you know kids at school would make fun of me for racing go-karts and nobody understands what i do but for me it's all i wanted to do so um you know it's been a really cool journey for me to get to do this and you know it's it's just such a different lifestyle that i've been so grateful to live so you raced in europe from 2018 to 2020 yep going back and forth back and forth yeah and you'd spend the summers there yeah so i would usually spend around two to three months there yeah and how how was how did that go it was cool so

For me, I didn't go with my parents. My parents stayed home. My mom works a full-time job. She's in cancer research. She's an oncologist, and my dad works at the bank at the time. So, you know, they're both working full-time jobs. They don't have time to come spend three months with me in Europe. So I got sent over there with my go-karting coach at the time in America.

His name's Gary Willis. And he would be, he was basically my dad for three months. And we'd go live in these European small apartments in little towns in Europe. I don't speak the language. Most of the time we spent was in Italy, but we'd go over there and we'd have a rental car and we'd travel all around Europe to all these races, anywhere from Spain, France, you know, Portugal, all these tracks.

How old are you? I was anywhere from 11 to 14 in this time period. And Gary, he's a good old boy. He was, you know, he grew up in the central Florida, and, you know, he's just a good old boy. And he would get sick of me throughout the day and you know he'd by five o'clock he'd be like all right you're on your own and i'd be in these small european you know apartments and i'd get on a bike that was in the garage and i'd ride my bike to dinner

on my own as a 12 year old 13 year old and i'd go out and eat on my own and um it was just so unique for me and at the time i don't think i realized how cool it really was but looking back on it those were the coolest days of my life right i'm just a 12 year old riding a bike through a a small Italian town and, you know, getting dinner on my own and, you know, just I can't imagine seeing myself in a third-person view. It'd be so cool to go back to those days and just kind of relive it. Did you ever have any moments when you were homesick? Honestly, no. Really? You know, the amount of cool stuff I got to do. We'd race from Thursday to Sunday and then Monday to Wednesday, we'd try to be tourists because at the end of the

day, we're, Gary and I, we're trying to live in the moment and enjoy what we're doing, because at the end of they, we're racing in Europe, and we get to spend all this time here. Gary was really good about it. He wanted to get out. He never wanted to be in the apartment. He always wanted to be exploring. So, you know, we drove through the Alps and, you know, got to see so much cool stuff in the time we spent over there. I probably spent 10 months or so throughout those three years of my life in Europe and got to see so much, you know, stuff that I would have never seen had I not been racing. You end up winning the Carding Academy Trophy in 2000.

2020, the first American never win it. So I guess it's a big event, one kid from each country, over 40 countries involved. Yeah, yep. So it's created by the FIA who runs Formula One. They have a carting, you know, a portion of their company dedicated to carting. And this is one of their series that they have. They try to get the best kid from every country, as many countries as they can. They had about 40 countries. This was 2020, so it was COVID. So it was a little bit lower numbers than most years. But there were still 40 kids in this three race series that I raced in. And I was the selectant from, from, from, the USA. So I went over there and we got one race in Italy, one race in Belgium and then another race in Italy again. And I end up going out, the first race is in Italy and I end up winning it the first race to this three race series. And it was really big for me because, you know, guys that have won in this series before named, you know, Charles Leclair, for instance, he won it probably 10 years before I did. But, you know, to be winning in a series where a guy in Formula 1 was racing in, you know, 10 years ago, it was really cool for me. So I went out and won the first race

in Italy and then a month later, you know, we had races in between, you know, big European championship races in between, and then I go the next month. And in Belgium, I won that race as well. So I won the first two races in this series and locked up the championship before we even showed up to the third race. So that was really, really cool for me. It was a, and then, you know, at the end of the year, generally you'd go to the FIA Prize gala with all the, you know, Formula One champion and the F2 champion and all the rally champions and everyone in FIA, the champions of this. And then, you know, but it was 2020. So my mom rented a tuxedo and I sat on my living room desk and did the Zoom call for the championship

instead of going to wherever Switzerland or France, wherever this was. So that was a little upsetting. But still to win a championship like that in Europe be the first American to win it was really cool for me. So your career at this very young age is headed in this unique direction. but a very dedicated direction, right? And if you're racing in Europe, you're winning, and it should be producing, or you would think that it would eventually produce continued opportunity to work that ladder.

You moved to sports cars and come back to the United States, and your path to this dream of being in the F-1 seem to be working. do you know, I mean, I know you're just 18 years old and it might be difficult for you to articulate, like, you may not even realize you might not be able to tell us, you know, five or ten years from now how that shift happens or why it happens. But what, why did you not continue going down that route? Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me was money at the end of the day, you know, to go race in Europe. There's no sponsors in the feeder series of formula, really. It's a bunch of kids that, you know, are fortunate enough to get to go racing and, you know, have, you know, whether it's family money or, you know, people they know, whatever it may be, they got the chance to go do that. And I never really had that opportunity.

You know, I had small talk with, you know, the Ferrari Driver Academy and, you know, different driver academies in Europe. But nothing came about. And it's kind of just how it went. and I think five years ago, the view of Formula One in America was much different than it is today. I feel like five years ago, you know, five or whatever years ago, nobody really knew or took F1 seriously, whereas today I feel like it's much bigger in America. We have three races in the states. You think that had F1 been as popular as it is today in the states that you would have been able to find some support, someone that would something, some entity, or multiple entities that might have wanted to try to help you continue this route?

I definitely think there's a chance. I don't want to guarantee it, but, you know, for instance, there's a kid I know in America who was on a very similar trajectory to me and he's in Europe racing right now. He's 10 years old and he just got signed by Williams. So it's nothing to do with you being an American? Yeah. Right now, no. I mean, you know, the kid's American and he just got signed by Williams, yeah.

Because I wonder, you know, when, like when Andretti went over to run F1, there seemed to be this sort of, I don't know, we probably, Americans maybe take this, maybe this is something we just made up in our own head, but there seems to be this kind of idea that an American can't do this. They don't, you know, this isn't where they,

to your point, right? The kids that grow up in Europe, this is what they, do. They run road courses. They run carts. They run that they live in those spaces and and F1 is so familiar to them, right? Whereas us Americans up until recently, F1 was very distant and almost impossible to imagine ever making it to that level even if you were all, you know, had all the town in the world, right? Like Jeff Gordon or somebody like that, right? They may have, they may have they may have had the talent to go to F1, but would they have had the opportunities, right,

that they were going to have in NASCAR or what have you? And I guess maybe that doesn't exist as much today because, to your point, F1's gained a ton of popularity in the States. So, but you basically just went a more financial, to be financial feasibly route, right? So you decided that, you know, does your dad come to you one day and go?

We're taking a turn here. We're going to detour. We're taking an off ramp. We're going to, you know, I've got some things we can do in SECA. Yeah. It's a funny story. So my brother, my oldest brother, he got out of go-karts, and my dad built him a spec meata to go race regionally and SECA for fun.

No, you know, no big goal in sight. Just, you know, a dad and a son going out and racing cars. And so my brother did that for two or three years before he went to college. and then that car kind of sat for two or three years or so. And then when I got the chance to be old enough to race it, that's kind of around 2021. And my dad's like, all right, we'll put you in this and, you know, let you have your crack at a race car.

And so I did that for a year or so. And I think we're in 2021 now. And I'm teammates with Keel and Harvick in a go-kart. And Kevin Harvick, obviously, this was kind of during the COVID year. So they didn't have Praxer qualifying. And he would fly to the races, Sunday morning. So he'd be at the go-kart track from Thursday to Saturday. And I spent a lot of time with Keelan and Kevin because of that. And through that, Kevin met my dad. And Kevin saw something in

me and he went up to my dad one day and said, you know, what's your plan with Connor? And my dad goes, well, you know, we're going to, you know, go-carts and some SECA. And then when it's time to go to college, he's going to leave for college. And Kevin's like, no, that's, we got to try something here. So this is when Kevin kind of got involved in my racing and you know Kevin and I aren't together anymore, but he's still been a really big part in where I am today from what he did in my past. So in 2021, he got me a test in a TA2 car. And at this time, all I had racing was the Miata. And I didn't really have any stock car experience.

I didn't know much about, you know, how to drive a stock car or anything. And I show up to this test and there's a NASCAR driver who's in the country. series right now testing with me with the same team and I go out and my first session out I was a second faster than this driver and Kevin's at this test and it was kind of just a surprise to me I I kind of looked at myself I was like man like this can't be real really like can it and that was my first test in that car and after that I got the opportunity to go racing at the end of the year at the same track VIR the test was at VIR and I show up for the race and I qualify in the pole by three quarters of a second in my first TA2 race. And that's kind of when I realized I was like,

man, like maybe I can do this in a car. And I had never raced a V8 before. The most horsepower I've had under my foot at the time is 140 horsepower. So big jump. But, you know, first time I'm in the car, I, you know, put the results in. And I was leading the race until a plug failed. And I had to, you know, quit. But after that, I got the opportunity to race Trans Am full time the year after with with Silverhair Racing, who's been a big part of my career to this point and continue to be. They're supporting me in the trucks and all my ARCA races, you know, helping me with that. It's, you know, Maurice and Laura Hull, they've done a lot for me. So very appreciative for that opportunity because that was my first, you know, chance at a full season in a stock car.

And that's kind of when things shifted for me. And that's kind of when I met Josh Wise and Chevrolet and everyone there. So that's kind of where it all shifted. And that's how I kind of got my first opportunity to go stock car racing. And then, you know, in 2022, I made my first late model start in a pro late model at Orange County and won my first race in a late model. And there's been a lot of just kind of shift in my career at this point. So, yeah, it was definitely not what I was expecting.

If you would ask me in 2020, 2020, if this is where I'd be, I'd probably call you crazy. but, you know, I'm super excited to go X-Finity racing next year. It's going to be a big jump, big jump for me. Yeah, in the Mazda's, you had success right out of the gate, rookie the year, won the 2021 Mazda MX-5 Cup shootout, and then in 22, you won four races, second in the points between that and the Trans Am series. It seems like that you, you know, while you would commit to running for C-Science, and points, variety was maybe more important.

Is that intentional? You know, you running, I mean, I think now it's probably intentional because Chevrolet and other people around you are going, yeah, you need to do this and you need to drive everything. Drive, drive, drive, right? Racing at all. Because I think what's interesting about the Cup series is it's changed tremendously in terms of what type of driver they need for those cars, right?

not not it's not just your saturday night short track racer um you also have to have tons of of of quality ability at road courses because they are a big chunk of what we do now in the in the in the in the in the cup series the cars have changed tremendously to um probably be more adaptable for drivers coming out of transam or v8 supercar or what have you so um i want to know i guess and you know, 2021, 22, 23, where was, you know, you're probably not intentionally driving all these different cars to try to make you real well-rounded, cup ready. It's probably more just because you're doing everything and anything you can get your hands on. Yeah, no, that's exactly it. For me, it was, do I want to race in one series and race 12 weekends a year? Do I want to race in three series

and race 25, 30 weekends a year? And that's an easy answer. For me, I want to race as much as I can. And at this time, I'm doing online school, and I've become pretty committed to racing. And, you know, I got the chance. I won the scholarship to race in the MX5 Cup. What does that mean? So they took out of, you know, the spec me out I was racing in SECA. They take kids. Mazda is super good at opportunity and giving, you know, grassroots racers opportunity.

So they take 12 kids and bring them to a track. And the Maz MX5 cup carts, the new generation, you know, Maz MX5, the car that you drove at Martinsville and they put 12 of us out on track and they judge our on track ability, but they also judge your off track ability as well and how you are, how you would represent their brand. And I won that scholarship. It was $110,000 and it paid for the whole next season. So we took that to a team and no expenses for me for the whole season. So that was obviously an easy opportunity for me to say yes to. And then the Trans Am series, I had the opportunity to race that as well through Silver Hair Racing. And that was, that was a easy opportunity. And that was a very good. And

that gave me two full series to go out and race in and that was you know around 20 weekends and and then other stuff on top of that that I did I you know in 2022 I started racing the late models and you know a lot of different kind of cars I was racing it at a young age and I didn't really realize it at the time how diverse of a schedule I had I kind of thought it was just normal to take every opportunity you can get and run with it but you know what I was kind of learning in those stages were super important for me and and where I am today The diversity I feel like is so important. And one thing Kevin Harvick told me from when I met him to, you know,

if I went and talked to him today, is you got to be comfortable, being uncomfortable. And there was definitely a lot of uncomfortable times in those periods where I was racing in different cars for the first time. And at that time, you know, I'm 15, 16 years old and, you know, still learning. But, you know, I may not go out. I didn't win any Trans Am races my first year. you know, after I had qualified in the pole in my first race the year prior. So, you know, I had a lot of growth and I learned a lot throughout that year. And then 2023, the year following, you know,

I went out and won a lot more races and Trans Am and, you know, had a lot of success in the late model. And, you know, felt like I grew a lot from year to year. And that's what's important to me is growing and continuing to, you know, get better at the series that I'm wanting to race in. You talked about the Cars Tour being a lot of fun and being very difficult competitively. I can agree with that. It's so frustrating because I feel like with my career and my experience and knowledge that I could get in the Cars Tour and be relatively, you know, feel like I could confidently go out there and run top five, top three every single time. And it's not realistic.

Once you get behind the wheel, you do realize that it's not that easy. what is it about competing in that series everything that you've ever done up to this point has been road courses although you're running different types of cars from carting to Transam this is really when you got your first experience running at the short tracks and running ovals

and the discipline that you may need to run those type of race tracks and those cars but what I guess what are you learning there What are you taking from that experience? I feel like that while, I'm going to get a long question here, but I feel like that while it has become more important for a guy like you to run Trans Am for sure, it's become an awesome tool for guys that are trying to get up through the Xfinity and Cup level, your road course background and carding and all that stuff is going to benefit you greatly

in all the racing you do going forward in the NASCAR world, well for a long long time that wasn't exactly the priority you were going to race at a road course but you could suck at it and still win a championship or still be considered one of the best drivers in the series even if you weren't great at road courses well now that's not so much the case you can't go with those racetracks and not compete and expect to be a contender for the title but i do still feel like that the cars tour is a great place to learn racecraft, particularly for ovals, learn etiquette, if you will, of what is good and bad racing at a roadcourt or at an oval. So, I mean, what are you gaining from your experience there in the cars tour?

Yeah, one thing, the first thing I feel like I'm learning is respect and how to respect guys that I'm racing against and what's right versus wrong. And, you know, I'll be honest. I've made mistakes that I've gotten yelled at. You know, guys have come up to my trailer after the race and yelled at me. But at the same time, I've kind of learned what's right and wrong. And I've gone to guys' trailers after the race and yelled at them too. You know, especially after this weekend at Wilkesboro.

I had a moment where I didn't even get my helmet off before I was running to someone's trailer to go yell at them. But I feel like I'm learning respect, first of all, and what's right versus wrong in oval racing. And there's so many veterans in the series that have been doing it for long enough. And they're not afraid to tell you when you do wrong. And that's important and good for me, I feel like, because I want to learn these, you know, mistakes I'm making as soon as I can so I can fix them and be better when I get to, you know, the national series. So I don't make those mistakes on, you know, you know, Saturdays.

And that's going to be important for me. And another thing is just learning how to lose, honestly, because, you know, I feel like growing up, I won a lot of races and I competed, you know, I always feel like I was competing in the top three. And I get to the cars tour, and especially last year, the first year, year I was racing. I couldn't finish inside the top 10. I was, you know, at the racetrack every weekend, you know, bust in my butt, trying to do everything I could, and I just could not run inside the top 10. And, you know, part of that could have been, you know, equipment. I didn't have the best car, you know, I feel like when it drove really well, I think I could finish, you know, six, seventh,

eighth, in that range, but I never felt like I could win a race. And then, you know, I switched teams this year and, you know, I was racing with Pinnacle Racing Group, the same team as my Arka team, and we go out first race of the year with this new team, never competed in the cars to before, and we won our first race at Hickory, and then, you know, we go to the next race at Orange County, and I'm racing for the win, and I got in it with Bobby Mac, and, you know, I ended up finishing outside the top 10 in that one because of that. But, you know, it felt good to show up, you know, kind of clean slate and be able to compete for wins again. And, you know, that was good for my confidence, especially, because, you know, last year I think I ran

eight or nine cars to our races, and I had one top 10 in the late model stocks. I had a win in the pro late models with Rackley, but I feel like that's a little bit easier to win in. But it's been really good for me to go out there. And no matter what, you're racing against somebody for 125 laps, I feel like you're never on your own in the cars tour. And just all those repetit, like the repetition of it is so valuable for me. And getting those different unique experiences every single race is good for my growth. and, you know, in the moment I may be mad that I'm not winning, and, you know, I may be mad that I can't go out and compete every race, but at the end of day, I'm going out and I'm learning

every race. And, you know, when I've got what I have with Trackhouse, and I know kind of my future for the next year, at least, it's good to go out and learn rather than trying to win every race because I feel like if I can get better this year, it'll only benefit me for next year, rather than trying to focus so much on winning every race I'm in this year. And, you know, years past, I feel like the biggest thing for me is learning. So I've kind of taken that mindset, and it's definitely helped me not only with how I've competed this year, I feel like with that mindset,

I've put less pressure on myself. And with that, I've gone out and competed better. But I think I'm also going to be better prepared for when I'm going Xfinity racing next season. Yeah. So what is the plan for the remainder of this season? You know what you're going to be doing next year. you know that you have that to plan for the prep for right so how do you do you sort of

refocus some of your effort and energy in different spaces or different areas or now now those you know those oval races in the cars tour are or you're going to you might have a different frame of mind or approach to how you run them or what you want to learn um how would you get yourself ready for this full season and exfinity yeah i the biggest thing for me is going to be my nine I've nine NASCAR races left this year, five in the truck and four in the Xfinity car. I've got some mile and a half, some big tracks. I've got Watkins Glen in the Xfinity car, which I'm really looking forward to. That's my first one with, a track that I'm familiar with.

And road course racing is obviously my background. So that one's going to be a good one to go out and try and compete for a win at. But the rest of them, I'm just going to go out. And I want to run every lap that I show up for, right? If I can show up and run all the laps and learn and get through these races, is, you know, taking something out of each race. And, you know, I just don't want to go out and make a fool of myself. You know, like SVG, this whole year, stage one, he runs 25th. Stage two, he runs 18th. Stage three, he's, you know, running inside the top 15, maybe top 10.

You know, indie, he's finishing sixth or, you know, fourth, actually. So that's the kind of races that I want to put together. I, you know, I may not go out and be the fastest car in qualifying. I may not, you know, go out and win stage one. But by the end of the end of the race. the race, I want to make sure that I'm learning to the point where I'm better in stage three than I was in stage one. And if I can do that at every race, then I'll be happy with that. And I'll be content with that. I don't think it's super important for me to go out and try and win Homestead my first time. Sure. Because it's not realistic. But I want to go out and become better every lap I run. And I think if I can do that, then that'll be what's best, that's what's going to best prepare me for

for 2025. I worry about, you know, the expectations now that are going to be put on you. I think that you can do this. I've no doubt that given the right, you know, the right path, you'll be able to accomplish what you want to. I think you're very talented, your adaptability that Justin spoke of is there, it's real. I, I, You know, do wonder, everybody handles it differently, but you're, as this announcement goes out, as you do run these races later this year, more and more people are going to be seeing you, commenting, giving their opinions, their criticism. We will be talking about you in this room on our shows about the ebbs and flows, right, of your path. that is going to I don't know if that's

anything comparable to what you've experienced so far maybe you felt that pressure when you were in Europe being that American and not being the favorite or expected to win and feeling that pressure to go perform

and represent yourself so maybe there is something you've experienced that would prepare you for this but have you you know have and I think your relationship with Josh White is probably one that will benefit you greatly when it comes to managing the outside expectations and noise. What's your thoughts on that and you're 18 years old? You have so much life to live and things to process and learn. I don't see how in the hell you could be able or

expected to handle this perfectly. But I know you'll try. So what's your thoughts? Yeah. I definitely agree with you. It's not going to be easy. And already I have a lot of expectations on me and I've run, I've ran one truck race. And, you know, all these guys are talking about how I'm going to go out and win an Xfinity race in my first race. And for me, I'm racing for myself. And at the end of the day, I'm doing this for myself. And even though that may sound selfish, maybe, I try to not listen to outside noise, whether it's good or bad. You know, a lot of people have said a lot of good things about me lately, but, you know, at the end of the day, I still have to go out and perform and continue to perform because I'm not at the highest level yet and I'm not, you know, winning at the highest

level yet. And for me, until I get to that point, you know, I'm not satisfied. And I think that with the expectations that are put on me, it's going to be tough to kind of block it out because I know that there's going to be growing pains. I know it's not all going to be, you know, easy and rainbows and butterflies and it's not going to be, you know, perfect straight out of the gate. And I expect that. And as long as I can put those expectations for myself and understand that I have to learn and grow to, you know, compete at the highest level and, you know, win in the Xfinity series next year, it's going to take a lot of effort. And, you know, I'm already starting it now. You know, I'm trying to get as much Sim time as I can with, with JRM and, you know, with Josh and even doing

the trackhouse sim for for the Cup Car. Whatever I can do to get myself. self reps at all these places that I'm going to go to, that's important to me. And I think that'll help me. But yeah, the expectations are tough, right? You know, people talk a lot, you know, whether it's good or bad. And, you know, when you have a bad race, people are going to talk about it. When you have a good race, people are going to talk about it. But I think the biggest thing is blocking out as much as I can, good and bad. You know, I don't want to listen to the good and I don't want to listen to the bad because I don't want outside noise to affect how I go about my own ways. When you go out and qualify as well as you did in the truck at Cota, a lot of people

take notice. I think I remember Kyle Larson making a comment about how impressive that was or how he wasn't surprised at what you were able to do and you go out there and miss the first turn. What is your immediate reaction in that moment? I will say before you answered, like, When I saw that happen, I thought nothing of it. It's not a big deal. Of course, right? I mean, we saw so much happen in that corner. It's a tough corner.

But you went into that corner for the very first time in competition, and it didn't go well. Okay. Not the end of the world. What was your feeling? What was your emotion as you're trying to gather the truck back up and get going? And you run a few more corners. What was happening in your head?

Yeah, my first thought was, you know, this is a long race. I have a lot of time left, but I was cussing myself out for a few seconds, and then I realized that I have, you know, this is my opportunity, right? I have to go out and still make the most of what I have left. And I think that was one thing that I was proud of myself for after the race is I was a lap and a half down at one point in that race. And to come back and finish fourth, you know, I feel like if you asked me three days before we showed up Dakota that I'd finished fourth, I'd probably be really happy with that.

And that's kind of what I looked back on when I finished that race is if you told me four days ago I was going to finish fourth, I'd probably be happy with that. And if you asked me after qualifying, if you asked me after qualifying and told me I was going to finish fourth, I'd probably be pissed. So, you know, those expectations change once I got on track and realized that I had enough speed to win. But at the end of the day, I had to go back to, you know, a week prior to the race and tell myself, you know, we finished fourth in our first truck race. and that's something that we can be satisfied with. So, you know, it was frustrating for sure. You know, I was, I immediately took off to go around the Arka race at Pensacola after that, and the whole plane ride, I was just, you know, pretty, pretty upset with myself.

And, you know, even my dad was like, dude, you finished fourth. Like, I know it's not what we wanted, but, you know, at the end of the day, we, you know, you still ran well. So it's kind of the mindset of that is just go back to your, you know, one year goal, your three-year goal and kind of look back and think, am I going the right direction? Am I, you know, making the right moves to get to where I want to be? And after that race, I kind of look back on it. I was like, you know what, there is something to be proud of there.

I learned a lot. You know, I passed every truck on the racetrack. And that's something that I could be proud of. So, you know, frustrating how it went. But at the end of the day, it still was a positive in my book. Who do you talk to besides Harvick? You mentioned him. what are, you know, one of the guys that I think would be incredibly helpful for you would be a William Byron because his ascension and growth and process of traveling through the different various ladders in the sport were very quick, super quick, right?

When he goes from racing, you know, legends cars to a couple level. And, but who are some of the people that you enjoy hearing from or pinging to get advice? Yeah, my number one guy is Josh Wise for sure. just the way he goes about everything he thinks about. He's got a psychology degree, so everything he says is well thought out, and he understands how humans think and understands, you know, everything about it, and he understands the racing as well, because he's been in these situations. He ran for a, you know, backmarker cup team and ran outside the top 30 a bunch and learned how to lose and understood what it was like after being the most, you know, successful midget driver and USAC that there was at the time. So he understands kind of all that I'm going through right now.

And he's one guy that I really lean on for advice, not only with on track, but off track as well, just how I should go about certain events. You know, this year with, you know, the 18 car and arc, I've had a lot of trouble with him. And he's the first guy I go to to ask, you know, what do I do about this? How do I go about this? And, you know, he gives me the advice that I need to kind of go about things. And, you know, it's good to have someone I can rely on like that for. any advice, whether it's, you know, talking about how I'm going to go through turn one at a certain

racetrack or how I'm going to go about dealing with a guy that I struggle to race against on the racetrack. And he's been super good about that and been honest with me. And that's one thing that I appreciate about Josh is he will be honest with me when I do something wrong. And, you know, that's something I need and appreciate. You know, some guys want to be fluffed and and want people to tell them, you know, always good. And yeah, exactly. But I, I, the more honest, you are with me the better, because it's going to make me better in the long haul. Yeah, I feel the same way. I want to know the truth. And if the truth hurts and I've got to fix it and I've got to make adjustments, I can't

know that if you don't tell me the truth. What about media training? Do you do, so you're doing everything to prepare yourself for driving, Simwork, all of those things. But with all of this net added exposure, will be more and more media work. And I'm not talking about just making yourself sound reasonable and smart. But you have, you know, you've got to eventually understand what a brand is and why that's important and how to protect or create your brand where you want your brand to go, what the mission is, what the mission statement is, content, creating content, why that's important, why people,

why people want to hear from you. One of the biggest problems a lot of our drivers have that are, you, you know, you're, young like you is they think that their lives aren't important, that nobody cares, and that nobody wants to know what they did Wednesday. It's not true. Like, you know, for William to share with us in that Netflix episode that he's messing with Legos seems so trivial, but it's so critical for fans to relate, right? And, hell, he created a Lego fan in me. I'd never mess with Legos, and now I'm building them in the house because it's just fun for your mind. good for you but uh you know what are you are you doing or are you planning to do some media

training so that you you know kind of because that pillar of your life has to be as good and strong as the the true ability to drive a race car in my opinion for you to be this total package when you get to the cup series you have to deliver on all fronts right yeah i agree and that's one thing i've definitely been working on is how to kind of portray my story in a unique way. And something that I've obviously found to be very important. You know, that's one thing, you know, when I was 10 or 11, I didn't realize how important who you are to people is. And, you know, as I've grown, I've kind of learned it. And I still have a lot to learn on that front for sure. And that's one thing that I do need to probably

become better at and understand more. And I just need to learn more on it. But yeah, it is very important and I don't want to be the guy that has, you know, no personality or anything like that. And I've gotten myself in trouble already in some ways with things I've said. And, you know, I've had to learn. Well, give me an example. I was at Richmond and it's funny because my PR rep sitting over there and she's the one who, we have a joke about it. But I'm sitting at Richmond and I'm on the stand at Richmond. It's my first time doing a press conference and I kind of don't realize that everything I say can be used against me. What are you there for?

What race? This was right after, I don't, I was just there watching the cup race. I think I was talking about an announcement we just made, whether it was maybe my X-Many races or after my truck race, I think. I think it was after my truck race at Coda. And I'm up on the stand and they ask me, you know, what, what can NASCAR do to, you know, what's the difference between NASCAR and F-1 to you or something like that? And I was talking about the fan experience because I went to an F-1 race when I was in Europe

in Portugal and my mechanic, Gary, he was. he worked for Latifi, Nicholas Latifi, back when he raced go-karts. So we got these super cool sweet tickets. We were up and, you know, above the thing. We were eating five-star meals, lamp chops, and all of this good stuff. And then you go to a NASCAR race and a VIP ticket gets you in the garage. And it's just that kind of difference. So they asked me about, you know, the difference from NASCAR to F-1. And I'm like, honestly, F-1 makes NASCAR look like a county fair. Yeah. I remember that. Yeah, I got blasted for that one. And, you know, there's just some things you can and can't say. And I was completely, I wasn't talking about the on-track

package. I was just talking about the, you know, and obviously NASCAR isn't F-1 and it's completely different. I probably shouldn't have said that. But, you know, things like that, you can't say. And, you know, I've had to learn the hard way on some of those things. So, you know, I've learned as I've gone and, you know, I'm sure I'll continue to get better and learn more as I go. But it is definitely an important piece of the puzzle. Yeah, we all make, we all, I wouldn't even call that a mistake, really legitimate mistake. I mean, but we all say things that

and, you know, we mean one thing and it sounds like another, and I've made those same mistakes at points in my career where you're like, that's not really what I was trying to get across,

but damn, I just wish I wouldn't have said none of it. Yeah. But, you know, I'm glad. I hope, you know, I think at this point in your life, you know, the media side of it isn't as important as what you're learning on the racetrack,

but it will be something that I think you'd want to invest a little bit of effort and time and money into having great PR people around you is step number one, having somebody to support you and help you. When I would do this interview if I were you, right? And I still do this, even today. I would leave this room and immediately ask my PR person, what did you think about that? What was good? what was bad what would I what could I change um and so even today I still do that anything that I do with um

you know with with with any of the broadcasting or if I go they had me in New York doing up front I'm on stage talking about you know the Amazon deal as soon as I come off stage I'm like how can I make that better like what what do I need to do to to to articulate better or what points did I miss right and so um yeah And I think you being you, I feel like you'll want to excel in that area as well as on the racetrack. And so I'm sure you'll do the homework. But, man, I'm thankful that you're here. I appreciate you coming today so we could learn a little bit about you. I had just planned on getting you into the studio even before we were going to do any kind of announcement like this.

So it's kind of cool we're able to package it all together. But, you know, you're you come across as a great kid. I think I wouldn't change a thing. Just keep doing what you're doing. And if you ever need me, I'm a text away and would be happy to help you. You're going to have tons of support, tons of people around you that are going to want to, you know, help you achieve all of the things you want to achieve. You're never going to lack for advice and direction in that regard. But you'll have a bunch of people here in this building over the next, you know, 16 to 18 months.

that'll be trying their best to give you every opportunity to succeed, myself included. And so we're excited to be a part of this journey, man. Even if it's just for a moment, it's still really cool for us. This is what this building's here for is to help people like you ascend through the ranks. And yeah, looking forward to seeing what's next. Excited about what we're going to do the remainder this year. We're going to run some races together. Maybe we'll run some cars tour races again on the racetrack together.

I don't know. You run in Florence? I'm going to be at Florence. It's a maybe. Yeah, okay. Well, if you're there, I'll see you there. Otherwise, maybe you'll see it the racetrack driving that 88 or driving our affinity stuff. So thank you, Connor. Appreciate you. Yes, sir. Thank you. I'm excited for next year. It's no place I'd rather be for the next 16 months. It's going to be a fun journey. A lot to learn. But I've got a lot of great people around me with, you know, you included and everyone at J.R.M. So, you know, thank you for the opportunity, and, you know, I'm looking forward to it. You got it, man.

Connor Zilich on the Dell Jr. Download. All right, everybody. That was Justin Marks and Connor Zilich on our guest segment. I want to thank Ally for bringing us the guest segment every single week. Ally is such a big supporter of everything we do here at Dirtymo Media. They support so many other things in NASCAR. We all should be happy that they want to help raise our sport and improve it and help it grow. and they bring us a lot of allies.

We use that word play quite a bit every week, and it's true. Connor Zilich is a great kid, and I've raced with him. I've kind of been paying attention to him a little bit as he's been a part of the Cars Tour, obviously. Justin Marks, obviously one of the owners in the Cars Tour has been paying attention as well and likes what he sees. So it's awesome to hear about their plans together and how that's going to be a part of the future here at Junior Motorsports.

And, you know, we often look at ourselves at Junior Motors Sports as kind of a, you know, kind of a farm team for Hendrick and a place where Hendrick can grow individuals. And that's absolutely our priority. But for all these years, we've also been about just helping good people. And Justin Marks is one of those people that we really appreciate being in business with. and he wants us to be a part of this process with Connor, and we're excited to do that for him and with him. So, you know, Connor, I was going to have him come on because we like to get the prospects here every once in a while

and just learn about them and see what makes them tick. And he has such an interesting path to find his way into the NASCAR world. And should he succeed, that story will get told over and over and again. So this will be one of the first places that you can learn about who this kid is and where he came from and what his experience is in NASCAR or in motorsports in general. And so as he continues to climb the ranks, you continue to educate yourself about Connor and maybe choose to be a fan and follow him along that path. So it seems like a great kid. Seems like somebody definitely worthy of your support. and I'm hoping for the best.

And that's it. I mean, it's just a great show. Good, good show. Always, you know, we have a lot of the historic people come in, and sometimes we get current drivers, and then you'll get the prospects, and we try to mix it up here and have some fun. We're even talking about getting Josh Wise in here

to tell us all about what he does. He gets mentioned a lot on these shows, and I like to learn more about his program. So we've got some cool things down the pipe, for the rest of the season and hope you enjoyed today's episode. All right, it's time for the white flag to wrap this one up. It's Wednesday, and so remember yesterday it was Dirty Air.

We had T.J. Majors as the guest on that show, and we had a lot of fun kind of catching up and getting back plugged in to what's going on in the NASCAR world. We took a big break there with the Olympics. The cars tour continued to throw a lot of excitement our way while NASCAR was off. And now we're going to Richmond this weekend. to see the NASCAR boys back at it.

Speed Street with Connor Daly and Chase Holden drops today. So I hope you'll listen to that as well as our guest interview. And then dropping tomorrow, DJD reloaded. And Dirty Mo Doe also is live all week. All right. There's still some Olympics left. And the boys at Dirty Mo Doe will be live on the Dirty Mo Doe YouTube page. You can catch it all, making fools of themselves.

And also making fools of themselves. is the Dirty Mo Media crew with the Dirty Moe Summer Games. They're releasing different episodes of the Dirty Moe Summer Games on the next level with Andrew Curlin YouTube page. So next level with Andrew Curlin, go to that YouTube page. That's the Dirty Mo Media property. You'll be able to watch the Dirty Mo Summer Games. The Hot Sauce Challenge, what they were calling,

the Bianchi Bombs, was dropped yesterday. So basically a little bit of trivia mixed in. with some hot sauce and some of the team did not perform well. I definitely chuckled watching it myself. So we got a five-star Apple review from Don. When Dale started this podcast, I was immediately hooked. I laughed uncontrollably during the Tony Stewart interview and had leaky eyes and a lump in my throat listening to the words from Steve Park. This is one, if not, the best weekly podcast that I support.

And we thank you, Don, and everyone like Don, that really catches on, catches on, we're doing here. We have some people that will listen to us daily. Some people are finding some of our older episodes just for the first time. And what's great about a lot of our guest interviews is they are evergreen. You can go back and listen to some of the older versions and just kind of get a great idea of what that person's been through, what they're up against, and what they're doing these days. If you want current events, current topics, what's going on in our lives at Tuesday show is always going to be good for that. we have a lot of fun creating this content, but we have even more fun reading these words

that Don wrote us telling us how much he enjoys listening. So that's definitely a motivator for us, and we appreciate it. Y'all have a good one.