Denny Hamlin has weighed in on Connor Zilisch's underwhelming start to life as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver.

Zilisch was promoted to replace Daniel Suarez at Trackhouse Racing for the 2026 season at the age of just 19 after an incredible year in the Xfinity Series, but is yet to really get to grips with the new level of competition.

The teenager sits only above Cole Custer and Cody Ware in the points table (of drivers who have started every race), some way behind team-mates Shane van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain, who are on the fringes of the Chase battle.

Hamlin admitted on his Actions Detrimental podcast this week that Zilisch's early performances aren't at the level he expected, but pointed out that his Trackhouse team-mates are also underwhelming somewhat – with Chastain 21st in points.

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Connor Zilisch has struggled in his early Cup Series races

Those team struggles mean that the Joe Gibbs Racing star isn't panicking about Zilisch individually, backing the driver 26 years his junior to keep plugging away and putting in the work.

“Connor is not performing as we thought," he admitted. "If Ross [Chastain] is my comp, I’d say Connor’s really running about the offset to Ross that you think he would run. The problem is Ross is 15 spots worse than what you would project. They have plenty of time to turn it around, which I’m sure they will.”

“You just stay the course. That’s my advice is that you just keep rowing the boat. Eventually, may the river flow and hit you in the ass, and you start going downriver. I don’t know. I think some of it comes with time. I don’t know how much of it is Connor, how much of it is car.

"If his teammate were up there winning races and whatnot, I would throw more of a caution to the Zilisch thing, but I just think that they’re struggling as an organization right now, and I think they would admit that.”

Zilisch: Tough times in the Cup Series

The teenager did have one moment this weekend which should be good for morale, taking Saturday's O'Reilly Series race victory at Bristol in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevy.

“It’s been a tough past two weeks for me in the Cup Series," he said after the race, "and it feels good to come back down here into the O’Reilly Series and prove that I can still do it.

"It’s tough. You finish in the back every week, and you forget who you are. This feels good. We played a strategy game. Rodney made a great call to keep us out. The tires weren’t wearing much all night, and we were able to get our Roto-Rooter Chevrolet in the track position that I needed to go out and win the race.”

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