The Trackhouse Racing teammates will compete head-to-head in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Chicago Street Course in July. Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch will both be driving for JR Motorsports that weekend, running the same sponsors but with inverse paint schemes.
SVG and Zilisch are both Red Bull athletes, but this will be the first time Red Bull has appeared on a JRM car. Zilisch competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series while Van Gisbergen is contesting his rookie season as a NASCAR Cup driver, recently winning the inaugural Cup race in Mexico City.
Chicago will be the New Zealander's first Xfinity start of the year, but he is the defending winner of the Chicago NXS race, winning from pole with Kaulig Racing in 2024. He is scheduled to drive the No. 88 JRM Chevrolet at Chicago, Sonoma, and Watkins Glen.
Zilisch, who has a run a handful of Cup races this year with Red Bull sponsorship in every start, just won his first oval race as a Xfinity driver at Pocono. JRM team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was atop the pit box as the interim crew chief.
SVG have only competed against each other four times before in the Xfinity Series during the 2024 season. Zilisch won on debut at Watkins Glen while Van Gisbergen finished fifth. They also raced each other at Kansas, Homestead, and Phoenix, but aside from the Cup Series where they both compete for Trackhouse, this will be their first time in NXS as true teammates.
