Ten races into the NASCAR season, Zilisch only has two top 20 finishes. He’s currently 33rd in points out of 35 who have started all races. That’s a perfectly fine place to be for a learning driver.

Some will say he was rushed. I don’t believe that’s the case. NASCAR takes time; the average number of starts to a first win is 88.9. 

For reference, here is a small list of starts before a first win for some of NASCAR’s best drivers.

Chase Elliott- 99

Kyle Larson- 99

William Byron- 98

Tyler Reddick- 92

Ryan Blaney- 68

More recently, Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar scored their first wins in starts 131 and 91, respectively. 

Zilisch has been a winner in every series he’s been in. 12 wins in 39 starts for O’Reilly’s Series. 10 wins in 18 starts across all ARCA series. He’s a proven race car driver.

Zilisch was ready to move up to the Cup after a dominating 2025 O’Reilly campaign. A slow start to a Cup Series is normal, by year 4 nobody will remember the beginning of 2026. 

Image Credit: Patrick Vallely