{"id":660231,"date":"2026-05-10T13:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T13:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/660231\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T13:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T13:18:08","slug":"zilisch-schools-love-in-oreilly-race-at-the-glen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/660231\/","title":{"rendered":"Zilisch schools Love in O’Reilly race at The Glen"},"content":{"rendered":"

WATKINS GLEN,N.Y.\u2014With a last-corner pass in a wounded car, Connor Zilisch preserved his perfect record at Watkins Glen International<\/a>\u2014at the expense of his best friend.<\/p>\n

Running down Jesse Love after pitting with 25 laps left, Zilisch shot past Love\u2019s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in Turn 7 and won a drag race to the finish line to win Saturday\u2019s Mission 200 at the Glen by 0.262 seconds.<\/p>\n

The victory was Zilisch\u2019s third straight at the 2.45-mile road course in as many starts, his second in his fifth NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series start of the season and the 13th\u00a0of his career.<\/p>\n

\"\"Connor Zilisch, driver of the #1 Jockey 150 Years Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series Mission 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on May 09, 2026 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/p>\n

Zilisch, Terry Labonte and Marcos Ambrose are the only drivers with three consecutive O\u2019Reilly Series victories at Watkins Glen.<\/p>\n

For the 70th\u00a0straight race, JR Motorsports put at least one car in the top 10, nine short of RFK Racing\u2019s record (2008-2010). JRM also collected its 11th\u00a0straight road course victory.<\/p>\n

The victory was the product of Zilisch\u2019s relentless pursuit of Love, who pitted on Lap 48 of 72 and saved fuel the rest of the way, with Zilisch\u2014from 18 seconds back\u2014chopping full seconds per lap off Love\u2019s lead over the final 25 circuits.<\/p>\n

With six laps left, however, Zilisch hit the grass as he sped through the Bus stop chicane and damaged the undercarriage of his car. Adjusting to the altered feel of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Zilisch continued his pursuit and closed on his friend.<\/p>\n

On the final lap, Zilisch made up significant ground through the Bus Stop and took advantage when Love ran wide through the final corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was driving as hard as I could for all 30 of those laps (from a restart on lap 51), just trying to make up that gap,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to move Jesse in the last corner there, but he got in deep, and I was able to get by\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so cool to come back and get my third win at Watkins Glen in a row with JRM. Cool to get it with Rodney (Childers). He\u2019s my third different crew chief here.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the second significant battle between Zilisch and Love in the last six months. At Phoenix Raceway in November, Love outdueled the heavily favored Zilisch to win the series championship.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, it was Love who was disconsolate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, the glaring piece of it is I had a bad corner,\u201d Love said. \u201cIt was definitely a challenging but good experience for me. I\u2019ve never saved fuel on a road course. What a good mental challenge for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I want to do is beat Connor here (on a road course), right? We\u2019re best friends, and we\u2019ve caused each other a lot of pain. I didn\u2019t execute when I needed to. I think the reason I\u2019m so quiet is I\u2019m just embarrassed, right? As a driver, you just can\u2019t make those mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a measure of the friendship between the two drivers, the first person to Love\u2019s car after the race who Zilisch\u2019s mother, who gave Love a consoling hug.<\/p>\n

Taylor Gray and Ross Chastain finished third and fourth, respectively, both on fuel-saving strategy. Brandon Jones was fifth, followed by rookie Brent Crews, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Green and Justin Allgaier, whose series lead over second place Sheldon Creed (29th Saturday) grew to 155 points.<\/p>\n

van Gisbergen was in the mix for the win before contact between his car and Zilisch\u2019s on pit road tore the left front fender on Zilisch\u2019s No. 9 JRM Chevrolet. van Gisbergen had to pit again for repairs, his winning chances gone.<\/p>\n

Crews led a race-high 32 laps, followed by Zilisch with 20 and Love with 18.<\/p>\n

After the victory, Zilisch climbed from his care with utmost care, determined not to repeat the fall from the window ledge that cost him a broken collarbone last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really means a lot to get another one here and get out of the car safely and get onto the ground without killing myself,\u201d Zilisch quipped.<\/p>\n

Zilisch and van Gisbergen will race as Trackhouse Racing teammates in Sunday\u2019s Go Bowling at The Glen, with the New Zealander on the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series event (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series Race \u2013 Mission 200 at The Glen<\/p>\n

1. (17) \u00a0Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

2. (8) \u00a0Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

3. (25) \u00a0Taylor Gray, Toyota, 82.<\/p>\n

4. (29) \u00a0Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

5. (7) \u00a0Brandon Jones, Toyota, 82.<\/p>\n

6. (4) \u00a0Brent Crews #, Toyota, 82.<\/p>\n

7. (6) \u00a0Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

8. (12) \u00a0Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

9. (35) \u00a0Austin Green, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

10. (2) \u00a0Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

11. (9) \u00a0Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

12. (1) \u00a0Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

13. (5) \u00a0Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

14. (34) \u00a0Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

15. (27) \u00a0Corey Day, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

16. (10) \u00a0Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

17. (22) \u00a0Harrison Burton, Toyota, 82.<\/p>\n

18. (18) \u00a0Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

19. (30) \u00a0Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

20. (36) \u00a0Will Rodgers, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

21. (38) \u00a0Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

22. (26) \u00a0Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

23. (13) \u00a0Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

24. (15) \u00a0Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

25. (23) \u00a0Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 82.<\/p>\n

26. (24) \u00a0Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, Out of Fuel, 81.<\/p>\n

27. (20) \u00a0Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, Out of Fuel, 81.<\/p>\n

28. (21) \u00a0Alex Guenette, Chevrolet, 81.<\/p>\n

29. (3) \u00a0Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 81.<\/p>\n

30. (32) \u00a0Glen Reen, Toyota, 81.<\/p>\n

31. (33) \u00a0Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 81.<\/p>\n

32. (31) \u00a0Derek White, Chevrolet, 78.<\/p>\n

33. (11) \u00a0Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 74.<\/p>\n

34. (28) \u00a0Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Suspension, 72.<\/p>\n

35. (16) \u00a0Dean Thompson, Toyota, Transmission, 54.<\/p>\n

36. (14) \u00a0William Sawalich, Toyota, Engine, 15.<\/p>\n

37. (37) \u00a0Matt Wilson, Chevrolet, Accident, 5.<\/p>\n

38. (19) \u00a0Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, Engine, 4.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner: \u00a092.64 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race: \u00a02 Hrs, 10 Mins, 7 Secs. Margin of Victory: \u00a0.262 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags: \u00a05 for 13 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes: \u00a013 among 6 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders: \u00a0 S. Mayer 1-3;B. Crews # 4-22;C. Zilisch(i) 23-28;S. Gisbergen(i) 29;C. Zilisch(i) 30-35;S. Gisbergen(i) 36;C. Zilisch(i) 37-42;B. Crews # 43-55;C. Zilisch(i) 56;S. Gisbergen(i) 57-61;R. Caruth 62-63;J. Love 64-81;C. Zilisch(i) 82.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): \u00a0Brent Crews # 2 times for 32 laps; Connor Zilisch(i) 5 times for 20 laps; Jesse Love 1 time for 18 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen(i) 3 times for 7 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 3 laps; Rajah Caruth 1 time for 2 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,41,7,2,20,21,88,99,32,39<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,19,9,7,2,54,21,41,8,20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WATKINS GLEN,N.Y.\u2014With a last-corner pass in a wounded car, Connor Zilisch preserved his perfect record at Watkins Glen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-660231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}