Connor Zilisch & Jesse Love Are NASCAR's Next Great Rivalry + Their Journey To NASCAR | Racin'

Recorded: June 16th 2026 | Welcome back to another episode of Racin’ With the Boys. This week we have two future stars of NASCAR with Connor Zilch and Jesse Love. Connor is a rookie in the Cup Series and races for Trackhouse Racing. Connor gets into what his rookie season has been like and how difficult it has been for him to learn the differences from the O’Reilly series and Cup. He also shares his story of how he got into racing and what the process was like coming up through the ranks and eventually getting called up to the big leagues. With Connor on the show, the boys had to poke a little fun at him when he fell of his car in victory lane and broke his collarbone/knocked himself out. Connor give his side of the story on what happened and it’s not a story you’re going to want to miss.

Jesse Love is the defending O’Reilly series champion and actually beat Connor last year in order to win the title. The two of them get into the feelings that followed after Jesse won. These two are best friends and Connor had such a historic season so for him ot fall short, on top of losing to his best friend was tough. Jesse gets into his journey through NASCAR and how he moved from California to Charlotte, NC at the age of 15 and basically lived by himself. He talks about the trials and tribulations of living on his own at such a young age. Jesse is also one of the drivers in the O’Reilly series that it looking to move up into the Cup series. He talks about what all goes into contract negotiations and how it works for him to be called up.

These two have a great head on their shoulders and are definitely going to become a household name in the future of NASCAR. Tap in and enjoy fellas.

 

0:00 Intro
2:46 Jesse Winning The Championship Over Connor 
7:39 The Beginning Of Their Friendship
10:36 Jesse Moving Away From Home
14:59 Connor: "dale Jr. Doesn't Know He's Dale Jr."
16:32 Big Video Game Guys 
20:54 Crew Members Getting Suspended 
22:29 When Did Does It Start To Feel Like A Career?
29:16 The Difficulty Of Being A Rookie In NASCAR
34:13 NASCAR Superstitions
38:38 Connor's Most Viral Moment
43:49 Connor Got Credit For A Race Win He Didn’t Win
48:57 Jesse Connor fights 
52:03 Inside Ball Of NASCAR Of Drafting
1:03:13 Getting Called Up
1:09:32 Ryan Blaney Going Undercover
1:12:54 Strawberry Moon?
1:14:29 Worst Crash In NASCAR History?
1:18:04 Connor’s First Word
1:20:31 Star Struck Racing Someone?

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