Connor Zilisch shared a heartfelt message ahead of his departure from JR Motorsports. The young prodigy believes he's a 'small part of the team' and hopes to have a place in it for as long as possible.Zilisch starts his final full-time drive with JRM on Saturday. He qualified fourth on the lineup, marking the best start among the final four. With ten wins, 19 top-5s and eight poles, the 19-year-old has had a stellar rookie season.Despite minimal experience, Zilisch has quickly found his footing. As such, he'll make the transition to the Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing next year, joining the likes of Shane van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain as teammates.In a press conference ahead of the championship race, Zilisch had this to say about his journey so far,"I feel like I'm a pretty small part of the team. I'm here for one year, you know, I did some races last year, I'm doing some races next year, so I'm going to try and stay a part of it as much as I can. I love everybody at JRM and I've certainly become you know, a better person because of the people there. So to be a small part of their history and you know, for them to be a big part of my journey is pretty cool." [0:47 onwards]Connor Zilisch will continue making part-time starts with JRM next year, while Rajah Caruth and Carson Kvapil will share Zilisch's No.88 entry.Kevin Harvick criticizes the playoff format amid Connor Zilisch's dominant seasonKevin Harvick recently criticized the playoffs and argued that it undermines Connor Zilisch's consistent success. Since the finale race has a winner-takes-all format, Zilisch's title chances are in jeopardy. Corey Heim faced the same during the 2024 finale, where Ty Majeski edged him out by just one position.In an episode of his Happy Hour podcast, Harvick said,"It should not be a question who the champion is in Xfinity. So if Connor Zilisch and Corey Heim don't win these championships, it's exactly why we don't need the system we have."NASCAR is reportedly considering a longer championship format to replace the current single-race title decider. A three or four-race final round is one of the options available.Reflecting upon the same, Harvick said,"People eat up having a bigger sample for the points because if one of those guys doesn’t win, it’s an embarrassment."Connor Zilisch logged a new record this season with 16 consecutive top-5s. The record was previously held by Sam Ard in 1983, which further underscores Zilisch's dominance. The young driver nabbed the record after advancing to the round of eight at Kansas Speedway. Notably, he extended the record by two more races until he fell out of the top-20 at Talladega.