Now that Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen are full-fledged NASCAR Cup Series teammates at Trackhouse Racing, you can expect them to play nice when it comes to on-track competition.
Not that they haven’t done so in the past. Van Gisbergen, 36, a three-time Australian Supercars champion, has expressed respect and admiration for his 19-year-old teammate, who torched the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with 10 victories last year.
Whenever the drivers compete on a road course, however, there’s the expectation that they will compete for the victory.
True to form, Zilisch won the pole in Friday’s qualifying for Saturday’s Focused Health 250 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, with Van Gisbergen a close second. The teammates were the only two drivers to navigate the 2.4-mile Circuit of the Americas road course under 98 seconds.
“I think, especially on Sunday (in Cup Series races), but tomorrow (Saturday) as well, the biggest thing that both of us know is that it’s important for the company to win,” Zilisch said. “I think that means that you don’t want to take risk of making a move that might end both of our days or whatever it may be.
“I think the biggest thing is that we both know at the end of the day that we can race for the win, and there’s no rule that we can’t race each other. But we’ve got to keep it in the back of our mind that, if we are racing for the win or the lead, it’s important to keep it cordial.”
Cordial or not, both Van Gisbergen and Zilisch will have to improve from lackluster qualifying efforts in Sunday’s DuraMAX Grand Prix Powered by Reladyne (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Van Gisbergen starts 13th, with Zilisch mired in 25th.
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