Two years ago, Shane Van Gisbergen attended the CARS Tour race at Florence Motor Speedway and came away from it genuinely intrigued by the culture, competition and cars.
It’s something he definitely wanted to try.
Then came a text from Dale Earnhardt Jr., asking him in a group chat with Connor Zilisch if they wanted to race Late Model Stocks at Florence with Red Bull paint schemes. Zilisch has been there, done that in a Late Model Stock Car but said he would come back to Florence only if his Trackhouse Racing teammate wanted to.
Here we are. Van Gisbergen is in the Hettinger Racing No. 51 and Zilisch is in the No. 8 for JR Motorsports on Thursday and Friday.
“What I remember is that I walked across Turn 1 and there were no walls,” Van Gisbergen said. “There’s like a banking and then trees and stuff. It was pretty eye-opening to see they raced at a track like that.
“But yeah, I thought it was a fun night. I stayed in the infield for the races and thought it was awesome. … I watch the races every now and then and thought it would be cool to do it. It didn’t take a lot of twisting my arm for me to want to.”
Zilisch has credited a lot of his NASCAR race craft and competitive mentality to his time in Late Model Stocks and is excited to share this world with his Trackhouse teammate.
“Yeah, I mean, I really hope he enjoys it,” Zilisch said. “I think both of us were kind of in the shoes of, ‘I’ll do it if you do it,’ so it’s cool that both of us are doing it. I’m excited to watch him do it because I love Late Model racing and we’ve become really good friends, and I’m texting him ‘get ready to drive something you’ve never felt before.’
“Late Model Stocks are the furthest thing from what he’s used to. So I’m excited to see what he thinks of it. And also the racing is really high level and competitive and it’s not easy. He knows that. He’s watched it. He’s seen it firsthand and I’m sure he’ll prepare himself for that, but I’m excited to see how he does and how he learns.”
Van Gisbergen says Zilisch hasn’t shared any tips with him yet but he’s excited for a full day of practice on Thursday and another practice on Friday before the race to get acclimated. Earnhardt has sent SVG notes but he has no expectations for Friday.
“No, I never have any,” Van Gisbergen said. “But yeah, I know the team is pretty good and the team’s actually only a couple minutes from home. So it’s been pretty easy to go and get sorted in the car and hang out with those guys. So yeah, just looking forward to a fun couple of days with them.”
For Zilisch, he’s won a CARS Tour race at Hickory in 2024 and won the South Carolina 250 in a Limited at Florence in 2023. In a Bryan Shaffer prepared car, Zilisch knows he will have all the tools needed to contend if his short track muscle memory comes back pretty quickly.
“Yeah, I mean I certainly think I have the ability,” Zilisch said. “I’ve won in the CARS Tour and Late Model Stocks before. No doubt, it took me a while to get there. When I started racing with PRG and their Late Model, I really started to run a lot better and we won our first race together. We almost won our second race together at Orange County. I felt like I had figured it out and that was about the time when I stopped racing Late Model Stocks.
“So yeah, I’m really excited to get back into it and recalibrate myself to that feel. And I certainly think in a JRM car with Bryan and everybody involved, I should be competitive, but I wouldn’t say it’s going to be an easy slam dunk win. The CARS Tour is difficult and I know that firsthand.
“So I’m tempering expectations, but my biggest goal is to have fun, enjoy the night, and hopefully that rewards us with a trophy.”
Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.
