Since announcing his development contract with Trackhouse Racing back in January, 17-year-old Connor Zilisch has been the most talked-about person in North American motorsports. Perhaps maybe only Kyle Larson has been talked about more, because after all, he’s Kyle Larson. But Zilisch has taken the racing world by storm since then. He scored a class win at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in late January, then backed that up with a class win at the 12 Hours of Sebring in early March. And then in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of the Americas he shattered the track record in qualifying before finishing fourth.

But people were continuing to ask the same question: Can he perform on an oval? If you were paying attention last summer, Zilisch had already answered that question by winning a CARS Tour Pro Late Model race at Ace Speedway. But the Mooresville, North Carolina native made sure to answer it again in convincing fashion on Saturday night at the historic Hickory Motor Speedway where he scored his first CARS Tour win in a Late Model Stock Car, the Tour’s premier division.

Zilisch didn’t have the best qualifying effort in his maiden voyage with Pinnacle Racing Group as he rolled off from the 11th starting spot on Saturday night. But he slowly and methodically worked his way into the top five, all while managing his tires. 

As the laps wound down it looked like it was a four-horse race between Chad McCumbee, who led the most laps on the night, Connor Hall, Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, and Zilisch. But by the end of it, it was clear who was superior on a chilly night in Catawba County as Zilisch drove away from the field and won by 1.3 seconds over Queen.

“This one means a lot, for sure,” said Zilisch. “This CARS Tour Late Model Stock division is so competitive. You know it means so much for every person who gets the chance to win. I’ve got to soak this in while I can. This one is exciting for me. I’ve been chasing this one for a long time, so this one feels really good.”

At the end of 150 laps, it was Queen coming home second and righting his Lee Pulliam Performance-led ship after a subpar outing at the season-opener in March. McCumbee, who has been plagued by bad luck for much of the last year, finished on the bottom step of the podium. Hall, who finished second in the season-opener, finished fourth and took control of the points standings. And rounding out the top five was Mini Tyrrell who rallied back from a pass-through penalty earlier in the race for a restart violation.

Bobby McCarty, Kade Brown, Ryan Millington, Brent Crews, and Treyten Lapcevich completed the top 10.

The CARS Tour will be back in action in just seven days at the New River All-American Speedway in Jacksonville, North Carolina on Saturday, April 13. The CARS Tour will then head to Orange County Speedway one week after that on Saturday, April 20. 

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CARS Tour LMSC Results From Hickory Motor Speedway