Just a year ago, Trackhouse Racing seemed to have one of the brighter futures in NASCAR with the trajectory arrow pointed upward for its long-term outlook. One season later, the situation at Trackhouse now looks dire following the 2027 season.
The rumor that had been percolating for months around the NASCAR garage became official on Monday morning. Hendrick Motorsports announced that Connor Zilisch, viewed as one of the future faces of the Cup Series, will replace Alex Bowman beginning with the 2028 season as the driver of the fourth chartered car at Hendrick.
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Bowman announced in late July that he would be retiring from full-time NASCAR racing following the conclusion of the 2027 season. While Hendrick had several options and plenty of time to find his successor, it quickly became apparent that the team was zeroed in on Zilisch and a deal would happen.
Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks tried to downplay the rumors, stating the team was committed to Zilisch and focused on long-term success with the young driver. Immediately following Hendrick’s announcement on Monday, however, Marks had a statement prepared for Zilisch’s departure.
“I’m truly happy for Connor to get an opportunity that many drivers only dream of…At Trackhouse, our mandate remains to work hard, accomplish big things with Connor while we have him, and position this 88 Chevy team to move into the 2028 NASCAR Cup season ready for a new, inspiring, and talented driver that will author the next chapter in this amazing book we are writing. But not yet.”
Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks on Connor Zilisch joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2028
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A Promising 2025 Season Becomes an Afterthought
There were certainly reasons to believe Trackhouse Racing’s stock was exponentially on the rise following the 2025 season. Shane van Gisbergen walked away with NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year honors coming off a season in which he won five road-course races and made the NASCAR playoffs alongside teammate Ross Chastain.
The future looked even brighter. Trackhouse brought in Zilisch, then 19 years old, who was widely viewed as a generational talent after a historic 2025 season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with 10 wins and 20 top-five finishes in 32 races, all the while tying series records for most consecutive wins (four) and most consecutive top-fives (18).
Zilisch, under contract for two seasons, could be the future face of Trackhouse’s NASCAR team. Meanwhile, with continued improvement on ovals from van Gisbergen, the best road-course driver in Cup history could take his racing to another level having gained more experience. The cherry on top was Chastain, who is widely recognized as one of the 10 most talented drivers in NASCAR and has won at least one Cup race every season from 2022-25.
Even for those with realistic expectations for Zilisch in his rookie season, Trackhouse had two drivers (SVG and Chastain) who were good bets to make The Chase in 2026 and the team’s ceiling would conceivably be even higher in 2027. Nearly one year later, it feels like an implosion is imminent.
Trackhouse Racing’s Brutal 2026 Season and an Even Bleaker Future After 2027
With two races remaining in the 2026 regular season, van Gisbergen has two wins with real improvements on ovals and he’s in a strong position to make The Chase. However, while it’s been a strong year for the No. 97 team, the collective disastrous results from Trackhouse have overshadowed it.
| Points | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish | Laps Led | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Chastain | 504 (18th) | 18.5 (16th) | 19.0 (20th) | (106 (15th) |
| Connor Zilisch | 257 (34th) | 24.1 (29th) | 27.3 (34th) | 8 (26th) |
Zilisch is having one of the worst rookie seasons in modern NASCAR history, leading the Cup Series in DNFs (eight). He’s failed to finish a race in 33.3 percent of the points races this season, with that lost time behind the wheel robbing him of precious development time and experience in the Next Gen car.
It both speaks volumes about Zilisch’s talent and how much his struggles this season are an indictment on Trackhouse that Hendrick immediately targeted him to replace Bowman. Let’s also keep in mind that in the months before Bowman announced his retirement, Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic both made it known all the way back in May that there was mutual interest between Zilisch and HMS,
As a mentally-exhausting rookie season slowly approaches its final turn for Zilisch, he’s already found his path to leave Hendrick. He likely won’t be the last.
Sitting 63 points below The Chase cutline, Chastain is realistically not going to make it into the playoffs. It will be just the second time since 2021 that he didn’t make the playoffs. Before the season, he was widely viewed as a near-certainty to be among the 16 drivers making the 10-race chase.
Trackhouse is largely to blame for the No. 1 car not making it in this year. Chastain’s pit crew, ranked ninth in PCR, has done the best they can to support the veteran driver. Unfortunately, the setup of the car itself has just never given Chastain a chance. One way of demonstrating that, he has qualified 20th or worse 10 times, 16th or worse 15 times and he has had a top-10 qualifying position just seven times excluding the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR All-Star Race. He’s simply not being provided with the equipment to consistently put him in a position for top-10 finishes (five this season) and the fact that he has fewer laps led (106) than Corey Heim (139) despite racing in 16 more races is a further indictment on Trackhouse.
Chastain’s contract is expiring after the 2027 season and it is fair to think he will have better opportunities elsewhere. While Hendrick and Joe Gibbs Racing seemingly have their full-time seats filled up, it is not unreasonable to think that teams like Spire Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club or potentially even 23XI Racing could view Chastain as an upgrade and vice versa.
That would already mean Trackhouse has lost two outstanding wheelmen who can become perennial contenders for multiple wins and who are capable of challenging for a top-10 spot among the points leaders at the end of the year.
Perhaps SVG will follow? He’s gained first-hand experience this year for how important qualifying position and a spot in the top-15 of the starting lineup on ovals can be. Trackhouse simply doesn’t have the ability to put him in that position, but other teams can. While it still feels likely that van Gisbergen would re-sign with Trackhouse, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the team could need to replace all three of its drivers for 2028. If that happens, Marks and Co. might just be better off selling one of their charters and being a two-car team that can finally pour more money into supporting their drivers.
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