Hendrick Motorsports certainly has time to wait to name its driver of the No. 48 car for 2028. But it might not want to wait.
It might want to get that driver off the market. Connor Zilisch has had an awful rookie year with now eight races where he didn’t finish. He most likely will be eliminated from Chase contention after next week’s race at Iowa.
But let’s not forget that he won 10 O’Reilly Series races last year. And that he has won in other series in dominating fashion. He is learning the Cup car, and once he learns it, he will pile up the trophies.
That's assuming he learns it. Zilisch’s contact is up at Trackhouse Racing next year. So it would be natural for Hendrick to snag him.
He's been the can't-miss prospect, although 23XI up-and-ocming star Corey Heim's two victories this year indicate maybe he should have been topped of that type of list. Trackhouse also has contracts expiring for Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen. Would Hendrick give either of those a shot?
It appears Hendrick is looking for a young driver that could race for the organization for another 10 or 20 years once Alex Bowman retires from the No. 48 car after the 2027 season. And Hendrick has a young driver in its stable in Corey Day, a 20-year-old sprint-car driver who has been championed by Kyle Larson as the next great racer.
Day has two O’Reilly wins for Hendrick (at Talladega and Dover earlier this year) and already has clinched a spot in the postseason with a couple of races remaining. Compared to Zilisch’s year a season ago, Day hasn’t matched it by a long shot. But Day also had less stock-car experience than Zilisch (who also is 20 years old) and it typically takes sprint-car drivers a little more time to adapt to full-body stock cars.
He is making steady improvement. He’s not ready for Cup just yet. But in nine months, he could be.
Will he get that chance at Hendrick? It’s debatable. Zilisch appears to be the guy and Hendrick doesn’t like to mess around to allow for second thoughts from a driver or for another team to pluck away the driver the organization has in its sights.
So what happens to Day if Zilisch signs with Hendrick? Does that mean he goes to Spire for a season or two? It’s certainly possible considering the Hendrick-Spire alliance.
Hendrick, though, doesn’t love building up talent so they can race somewhere else. But what it hates more is losing out on signing a top driver to another team. And while Zilisch hasn’t looked like the can’t-miss prospect he was a year ago, he still looks like a driver with speed and a ton of potential.
That likely will be enough for Hendrick. In Second Thoughts, Bob Pockrass offers his opinion on a burning motorsports topic.
