Connor Zilisch joins Darrell Waltrip in exclusive NASCAR milestone club after WWT Raceway win

Connor Zilisch entered the history books after his fourth consecutive win at World Wide Technology Raceway. He matched the feat previously held by Darrel Waltrip when he secured four straight wins back in 1981.

Zilisch's win at Gateway has created one too many records. The result marks the 16th win of the season for his team, JR Motorsports. Moreover, JRM has now won at every track the Xfinity Series has to offer.

For Zilisch, his win crowns him the regular season champion as well as the top seed for the playoffs. The 19-year-old now has a nine-win tally and is the winningest driver this year.

NASCAR reporter Dalton Hopkins shared Zilisch's historic milestone on X, writing,

"Connor Zilisch becomes only the second driver in the #NASCAR modern era (to be credited with a) win four consecutive races from the pole in any series. Only other is Darrell Waltrip, 1981"

Dalton Hopkins

@PitLaneCPT

Connor Zilisch becomes only the second driver in the #NASCAR modern era (to be credited with a) win four consecutive races from the pole in any series. Only other is Darrell Waltrip, 1981 #NASCAR #NuWay200

Reflecting upon the feat, Connor Zilisch said (via Racing America),

"Yeah, that one was stressful. Man, that's awesome. Four [wins] in a row, I think that's seven of the last eight for our WeatherTech Chevrolet team."

Parker Kligerman's win as a reserve driver for the No. 88 team extends Zilisch's streak to five consecutive races. He'd also bagged a pair of consecutive wins before Iowa, where he placed fourth. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton claimed the final playoff spot after Zilisch's win.

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Connor Zilisch addresses his hot streak

Connor Zilisch admitted that it'll be quite a challenge to maintain his win streak. The No. 88 driver will compete at Bristol Motor Speedway for the playoff opener. He'd qualified on the front row in his last outing at the track but could only muster a P12 finish by race end.

Looking ahead, Zilisch spoke to the media after the Nu Way 200 and said (via the aforementioned source),

"Man, this is going to be tough to keep up, honestly. It’s rare that you can go on a run like this. Every week, I show up and think, man, this is the weekend that we go run eighth and just aren’t great, but every weekend we show up, and we’re a winning race car. And my pit crew executes, my team executes, and everybody does their job, and we end up doing burnouts on the frontstretch.”

Connor Zilisch has seventeen Top-10s across 25 races this year, with 15 of them being Top-5 finishes. Moreover, he has led a combined total of 750 laps so far and records an average finish of 6, against an average start of 8.

Zilisch has also secured his Cup Series ride for the 2026 season. As a development driver for Trackhouse Racing, he'll replace Daniel Suarez next year.