If narrowly missing out on the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship to Jesse Love over the weekend in heartbreaking fashion wasn’t difficult enough to process, Connor Zilisch has also lost an opportunity to test for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA in the upcoming FIA WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain on 9 November.

DSC understands that the Cadillac test was meant to be a reward for the 19-year-old, widely considered to be the most outstanding prospect in NASCAR, while also serving as a milestone in his brief but accomplished sports car racing career.

But by missing out on the Xfinity Series title, DSC has been told that he does not have the required number of ACCUS (Automobile Competition Committee for the United States) licence points to test the Hypercar, and has been scratched from the entry as a result.

However, the disappointment for Zilisch in the final race of the Xfinity season – which saw four drivers pitted against one another in the increasingly unpopular winner-take-all format – hasn’t killed off all prospects of a LMDh run for him this year.

That’s because DSC expects him to be on the provisional entry list for the IMSA Daytona Sanctioned Test, as he is eligible to turn laps with Action Express Racing in a Cadillac V-Series.R, due to a key difference in requirements between the FIA and IMSA-sanctioned events.

Should Zilisch perform well at the Sanctioned Test, DSC expects him to be in line for a GTP drive for the 2026 Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Cadillac Whelen (Action Express) and Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing have already announced their driver line-ups for the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Endurance Cup campaigns, but have yet to announce any additional drivers for the season opener.

Zilisch’s rise to prominence in North American motorsport has been a rapid one.

With a decorated karting background highlighted by the 2020 CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy, and a foundation in road course racing established in SCCA Spec Miata, Trans-Am TA2, and the ultra-competitive Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin, Zilisch made his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut at the 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona for Indianapolis-based LMP2 team Era Motorsport.

The 17-year-old rookie became one of the youngest-ever drivers to win any class in the history of the Daytona 24 Hours, as Zilisch helped Era Motorsport win the LMP2 class for the second time in four years.

Incredibly, Zilisch would follow up that debut performance by winning again with Era Motorsport in his very next race, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, completing the sweep of the so-called “36 Hours of Florida” in his first attempt.

Zilisch and Era Motorsport finished the year third in the 2024 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup LMP2 standings after third-place finishes at the Battle on the Bricks in Indianapolis, and Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

While taking the IMSA LMP2 class by storm, Zilisch was also continuing his rapid rise through the American stock car racing circuit. Debuting in 2022 near his home in Charlotte, Zilisch won races in the Carolina Pro Late Model Series and the CARS Pro Late Model Tour.

He signed a developmental contract with Justin Marks’ Trackhouse Racing team in 2024, the same year he finished second in the ARCA Menards Series West championship and won five of his eight starts in the national ARCA Menards Series. That same year, Zilisch won his first-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen, driving for JR Motorsports. By the end of the year, he also secured one of the more coveted sponsorships in racing by becoming a Red Bull Athlete.

Zilisch started racing full-time in the Xfinity Series this year and put together one of the greatest seasons in the history of NASCAR’s second-tier national championship. Despite missing a race due to a back injury sustained in a crash at Talladega, and despite breaking his collarbone during a freak accident while celebrating a win at Watkins Glen, Zilisch made it to the ‘championship four’ finale in his rookie year with 10 wins, the most for a rookie driver in series history.

He also made his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series start at Circuit of the Americas in March, and in August, it was confirmed that Zilisch would drive full-time in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing, just a month after his 19th birthday on 22 July.

Though his stock car racing commitments have taken priority over endurance racing, Zilisch returned to the Rolex 24 at Daytona this year, driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R entered by Trackhouse and TF Sport.

Speaking with Motorsport.com writer Nick DeGroot, Zilisch said, “You need an FIA A license to run a Hypercar in WEC. I was supposed to go to Bahrain to do a test, but because of the points system – you get 10 points to win the Xfinity Series championship and eight for second. I needed 10 points to get to the 14 needed, and because I didn’t win the championship, (so) I didn’t have enough points.”

The decision cannot be appealed. “We’ve seen it with Colton Herta trying to get a super license (to race in Formula 1). There’s no way around it. It’s kind of just the way it is. I don’t think there’s really anything I could do. I just had to go win on Saturday and because I didn’t, I don’t get to go run that. It’s kind of just a second shot in the heart after the weekend. I knew it going in. It’s not like it caught me by surprise, but it doesn’t make it any easier, losing.”

Feature image © Halston Pitman / MotorSportMedia
Additional images © Jack Webster / dailysportscar.com, Michael L. Levitt / IMSA