Shane Van Gisbergen welcomed the rise of NASCAR star Connor Zilish for his calm and defensive driving after an exhilarating battle in Saturday’s Xfinity Sequence race at Sonoma.
Van Gisbergen left the California highway course with the highest prize by dominating Sunday’s Cup Sequence occasion, however he was hit with a slim defeat at Zilisch’s arms within the Xfinity race on the second flooring.
The pair went wheel-to-wheel for a 2.5-mile highway course victory and threw all the pieces to JR Motorsport Chevrolet on the ultimate two laps. Nonetheless, solely 18 years previous Zilisch was held firmly, claiming victory with a margin of simply 0.04, entitling Chicago’s defeat to Kiwi.
Zilisch is about to step up full-time into the Cup Sequence subsequent yr at a trackhouse race. That is probably lined up alongside each Rosschastain and Vangisbergen if the latter secures a brand new contract with the workforce.
Van Gisbergen is filled with reward from North Carolina and says he has proven maturity nicely past his age.
“We’ll must race him rather a lot sooner or later,” Van Gisbergen mentioned. “He is both a star of the game or much more. If he races him yesterday, he would not appear to be he is 18 years previous.
“He places his automotive within the excellent spot and drives extremely. He is an important younger child. If he’ll be my teammate or not subsequent yr, I hope he does — it’ll be plenty of enjoyable.”
Each drivers are backed by Purple Bull and are already going through the head-on in NASCAR’s prime two classes.
Van Gisbergen’s foremost focus is on the Cup Sequence, however he challenges the variety of Xfinity races he has chosen. Equally, Zilisch has balanced the full-time Xfinity marketing campaign with the 4 Cup sequence, beginning the trackhouse this yr.
Zilisch mentioned Van Gisbergen has raised the Cup Sequence degree and his success on the highway course has now strengthened the sector.
“The best factor is how a lot he pushes the entire discipline, particularly on Sundays, nobody ever went in and kicked the ass.
“I’ve heard lots of people say how I acquired higher and I’ll beat him, and I loved watching his transition.
“He is beginning to do nicely with eggs. If he understands them, it’ll be actually cool to look at. He is already on the suitable path and doing all the suitable issues to enhance.
“I simply take pleasure in racing with him – and study from him.”
