NASCAR star Kyle Larson heaps huge praise on Truck Series’ 17-year-old pole sitter Connor Zilisch

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson has lauded debutant Connor Zilisch's remarkable Truck Series qualifying run at Circuit of The Americas, as the latter becomes the polesitter on his maiden attempt.

The Truck Series is observing its fifth week. Zilisch, who entered the NASCAR scene as a development driver for Trackhouse Racing from 2024 to 2025, will be participating across the Truck Series for Spire Motorsports, Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports, ARCA Menards Series, and many more.

The 17-year-old debuted at the XPEL 225 qualifying run at the COTA on Friday and sealed the top spot for the Saturday race on the 3.426-mile track. His dominant display on the first attempt captured Kyle Larson's attention, following which the HMS driver praised Zilisch's performance.

During a post-qualifying press conference, the Californian reflected on the debutant's racing prowess as he outlined instances where Zilisch showcased supremacy. Larson said (via Bob Pockrass on X):

"I've heard that there is this kid [Connor Zilisch] that's really good and he was by far the best out there. So that's when I first started paying a lot of attention to him...I'm disappointed he was only like 3/4 of a second faster than field and not more than that because I figured he would be."

He added:

"I texted him [Zilisch] earlier this week and I was like, 'Man you should smash the field this weekend.' So it'll be more of the same tomorrow as long as nobody runs through him."

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Kyle Larson seals his seventh career pole in the Xfinity Series

The 48-lap Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 is around the corner, scheduled to commence on Saturday, March 23, at 5.00 PM ET. The race will be broadcast by FS1, PRN, and Sirius XM. Kyle Larson has sealed the P1 spot in the time-testing stint, clocking the fastest speed of 92.946 mph, and will start his run next to Shane Van Gisbergen in P2.

With his P1 spot in the qualifying, the #17 Chevrolet driver now has seven Xfinity Series poles in his bag, the previous one coming at the Sonoma Raceway last year. Following his dominant display on the asphalt of COTA, Kyle Larson unfurled how he had a hard time acing the qualifying stint.

“It’s a handful, that’s for sure. I was expecting these Xfinity cars to have a little more grip, but it was tough. There’s really lot of tough competitors out there. SVG probably still has a ways to learn on the car and he was still second-quick. It should be fun," Larson said (via Motorsport.com).