Teenage NASCAR driver from Mooresville to race in first Daytona 500

DAYTONA, Fla. (WBTV) – A teenager from Mooresville, N.C. is set to make his Daytona 500 debut on Sunday as he begins his first full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Connor Zilisch — who is just 19 years old — will start Sunday’s Daytona 500 from the 32nd position after he finished 15th in his duel race on Thursday night.

Zilisch raced in three Cup Series events in 2025, all of which came with Trackhouse Racing. Now in 2026, he will move to the Cup level on a full-time basis driving Trackhouse’s No. 88 car.

The racing phenom won 10 races in NASCAR’s second-tier series in 2025, which was more than double any other driver’s win total.

One of his 2025 wins came at Daytona, albeit in tandem with relief driver Parker Kligerman. Zilisch was recovering from a broken collarbone and started the race before Kligerman stepped in midway through and took the checkered flag.

Zilisch has not raced at the iconic 2.5-mile superspeedway in the Cup Series and said he was “so excited” for his first Daytona 500.

“The biggest thing for me coming into this weekend is just try and make the most of the weekend, obviously, and do everything I can on the track,” he told the media. “But more importantly just enjoy the experience and have fun no matter what happens.”

Zilisch will be the youngest driver in Sunday’s race by several years.

Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs are the next youngest drivers, and they are both 23. Casey Mears, who had to race his way into the Daytona 500 during Thursday’s duels, is the oldest at 47 years old.

If Zilisch were to win, he would become the youngest Daytona 500 winner ever. Trevor Bayne is currently the youngest after he won the 2011 race the day after his 20th birthday.

The green flag for this year’s Daytona 500 is scheduled to drop Sunday, Feb. 15 at 2:13 p.m. EST. The start time was moved up an hour due to the possibility for bad weather Sunday evening.

Mooresville, N.C. native Connor Zilisch will race in his first Daytona 500 on Sunday.(Matt Kelley | AP Photo)

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