Watkins Glen winner Connor Zilisch gears up for maiden full-time season in NASCAR under the wings of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR has long been made on big names and superstar drivers. That tradition has carried on throughout the 75-plus years of the sport. Sometimes drivers have come out of nowhere.

Zilisch recently turned 18 — the minimum age to be licensed to drive in the Xfinity Series, which is NASCAR’s version of Triple-A baseball.