Zilisch to Drive Action Express Cadillac at Daytona Test

Rising NASCAR star Connor Zilisch will get his maiden test outing in a top-class prototype when he joins Action Express Racing for the upcoming IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway.

Zilisch, who previously took LMP2 class victories at both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, will drive the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R alongside the team’s already confirmed 2026 driver lineup of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.

The 19-year-old is being evaluated for the role of fourth driver for the Florida endurance classic, which is taking place on Jan. 24-25.

“Hopefully, we’re going to make the most of it and see if this can lead to more opportunities for me in the Cadillac because it would be super cool for me to be able to race at the highest levels of endurance racing,” said Zilisch. “That’s always been a dream of mine.”

Zilisch has built up significant racing experience on Daytona’s road course layout, as his aforementioned winning Rolex 24 appearance with Era Motorsport in 2024 was followed up by a second appearance at the event in Trackhouse by TF Sport’s Corvette GTD Pro effort.

He was due to originally get his maiden Cadillac LMDh test outing in this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship Bahrain rookie test, where he would pilot Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA machinery alongside Aitken, Bamber and Ricky Taylor.

However, by narrowly losing out on winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship due to the series’ ‘Playoffs’ format, Zilisch did not earn enough points to earn the top-class FIA license required to drive in WEC’s Hypercar class.

Zilisch told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass about the situation: “You have to have a FIA A License to run a Hypercar in WEC, whether it was a test or what, and I needed to win the championship to have enough points to do that. I didn’t win the championship, so no Bahrain.

“I had flights and everything [booked], I was ready to go. I’ll be sitting at home now. When I found out I was definitely frustrated about it because it was silly.”

In contrast, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has no such licensing requirements, which also previously allowed Bronze-rated Ben Keating to contest the Rolex 24 at the wheel of JDC-Miller Motorsports’ customer Porsche 963.

Herta to Get First Outing in WTR Cadillac at Daytona Test

In addition to Action Express’ single-car Cadillac entry, Wayne Taylor Racing’s pair of cars will also take part in the test as the team prepares for its second season campaigning the Dallara-chassised LMDh car.

Colton Herta, who was previously confirmed to be joining the No. 40 Cadillac for the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds alongside Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz, will be present at the test, as will the rest of WTR’s driver lineup.

Herta’s Endurance Cup program comes in addition to a packed 2026 schedule that is set to feature a full season of FIA Formula 2 Championship competition with Hitech GP and a role of test driver for the debuting Cadillac Formula 1 Team.

John Dagys contributed to this report