Posted on by Dustin Albino

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Michael McDowell knew from the opening laps of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen that he was going to be a realistic threat to challenge Shane van Gisbergen for the victory.

But as van Gisbergen stretched the lead quickly in the first stage, McDowell and the No. 71 bunch realized that they might be racing for the runner-up position if the race played out naturally.

“I knew it was going to be a race between myself, SVG and Connor (Zilisch), just seeing how the pace was that first stage,” McDowell told a group of reporters. “I’m not sure what happened to Connor at the end, but those guys were really fast, had a bit more than us. We have a little work to do, but we will be there.”

MORE: Race results | At-track photos

Travis Peterson, crew chief of the No. 71 car, left McDowell out on track at a Lap 60 caution with teams on the edge of their fuel window of making it the distance. The plan was to charge hard for the duration of the final stage, with other drivers needing to save maximum fuel, and the fresh tires would pay dividends.

Plan fulfilled.

McDowell followed van Gisbergen through the field, a couple of seconds in tow. When the checkered flag flew, the No. 71 car was second, 7.288 seconds behind van Gisbergen, but marking McDowell’s best finish in 48 starts with Spire Motorsports.

“It’s not a win by any means, but it’s what we needed on this 71 team,” McDowell said. “We’ve been having a rough few weeks, so it’s good to get some points, momentum and confidence back.

“We weren’t far off. I know it feels like it because SVG stretched a pretty good lead. He got through the traffic a little bit better than I did. It’s so hard to tell with him because as soon as I would close the gap, he would step the pace up a little bit, and I would feel like that I would close the gap more and he would step the pace up. You never know when he’s going all out.”

Dating back to last June in the inaugural race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, van Gisbergen has won six of the most recent seven road-course battles contested. His only defeat was at Circuit of The Americas in March when Tyler Reddick outlasted the No. 97 machine.

The gap from van Gisbergen to McDowell, another elite road-course talent, is not much, McDowell thinks. He witnessed the difference firsthand at Watkins Glen.

“He just gets through the bus stop; we saw it in qualifying,” McDowell said of where SVG was better than him. “I followed him in there a couple of times, and my car doesn’t quite recover as good as his over the curbs. We have to work on that package a little bit. He just comes off that second curb with so much control and momentum. I feel like we have a little work to do to make it better. There were sections of the track that we were better too.

“I don’t feel like he’s unbeatable, he’s just really hard to beat because he executes so well and manages tires well. A place like this where there was that much falloff, he’s a hard guy to beat.”

RELATED: Race Rewind: SVG makes it look easy

McDowell ended the race with 36 points, his second-most for a race in 2026. That sum could have been padded more had the No. 71 car not faded on older tires at the end of Stage 2 in an eight-lap dash to the stage end. He led a handful of laps before dropping to 12th position.

With a couple of untimely cautions derailing strategy plans for multiple drivers and a sizable amount of tire falloff, the combination led to tricky calls atop the pit box.

“It does make for an interesting dynamic,” Peterson told NASCAR.com. “The biggest thing was SVG kept slowly driving away all day. I think we were a second-place car all day, and the problem is, you have to do something different to beat that guy. We tried it at one point and that yellow hurt our chances of having the better tires all of Stage 3.

“In the end, we were able to see him, stay with him through the field. We just didn’t quite have enough on that last run.”

McDowell jumped a pair of spots in the regular-season championship standings to 21st. It was needed for the No. 71 team, which collected seven consecutive finishes of 18th or worse dating back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in mid-March. With van Gisbergen’s dominant performance, however, McDowell lost five points to the cutline and now sits 58 points below.

“It’s nice to get a decent finish but we wanted to win,” McDowell added. “You only get so many shots at it. I feel like today we had a car that was close — not quite capable — but almost there.”

After taking a dive in the regular-season standings, Peterson believes a run like Watkins Glen was needed to mitigate the damage.

“This was a huge points day for us, a good reset to build momentum to go into the next stretch,” he said. “Just hitting that reset button is the biggest thing. Got to stop the bleeding, this was it. We wanted to win, but we will take second.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Connor Zilisch had all the ingredients for his best day in the NASCAR Cup Series – a speedy car, a competitive strategy and solid execution on one of his strongest tracks. The good fortune part, however, has eluded him so far in a rocky rookie season.

Zilisch’s luck failed to turn again Sunday in an otherwise stellar drive at Watkins Glen International, where a potential first top-five result transformed into a 20th-place finish in the Go Bowling at The Glen. His No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet slowed from second place when its right-front tire went down with eight laps to go, forcing him to pit road and unraveling an otherwise promising day.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“I mean, I don’t really know. Just kind of sucks,” Zilisch said on pit road post-race. “I feel like I did almost everything right today that I could, but yeah, it just goes like that sometimes. So yeah, I’ll keep my head up. We’ve got a couple more road courses to go to, a couple good tracks coming up for Trackhouse. So, yeah, keep my head down and keep digging.”

Zilisch was seemingly set up for success after a final-stage caution for debris from Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford brought him and a host of other contenders to pit road for what was scheduled to be a final stop on Lap 61 of 100. After Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen and others on alternate strategies stopped roughly midway through the closing stage, Zilisch eventually rotated to second place behind Ty Gibbs, and both raced in fuel-save mode in their quests to make it to the end.

Van Gisbergen eventually blew past both with a brilliant final charge through the field, but Zilisch was still hopeful of salvaging what would easily have been his best Cup Series finish. His tire trouble sealed the fate, though he managed to tack on one extra point with the race’s fastest lap – his 95th – after his unplanned pit-road visit.

“We had a little bit of an up and down day,” No. 88 crew chief Randall Burnett told NASCAR.com. “Obviously, the first stage went really well. After that caution in the second stage, we lost the track position, so we were trying to battle back from that a little bit. We’ve been here a lot of times, and you get close to your window there, that caution comes out on whatever (Lap) 60, 61, you know you’re a lap or two short of making it, it’s hard to not pit and do that. So, we went for it, tried to save what we can. We were going to make it on the fuel deal. Shane was so fast when he came back out, I don’t think we were going to hold them off, but in hindsight, I’d have probably gone a little different on my end and made some different choices, but it’s what it is.”

The outcome extended what’s been an uneven start to the 19-year-old’s first Cup Series campaign. Zilisch gained one position in the Cup Series standings on Sunday, but a third of the way into his first full season, he ranks 32nd with a best finish of 14th at Circuit of The Americas in early March.

MORE: Cup Series standings

Burnett said he’s aiming to keep putting Zilisch in positive positions and gaining ground in the points after the All-Star Race break next weekend.

“I mean, this deal’s hard, and he’s certainly taking his rookie licks this year,” said Burnett, also in his first year with Trackhouse. “We’ve had a lot of stuff go on, and it’s kind of buried us this year, and he’s handling it really well, whole team’s handling it well. We know we’ve got a whole lot of potential. We’ve just got to have a couple things go our way and get a good finish from these days to show what this team can really do. I’m really proud of everybody at Trackhouse and everybody that puts their hands on these cars, building good cars. We’ve just got to keep bringing good stuff for Connor and just keep the battle going forward.”

Sunday brought a rapid pendulum swing of emotions the other way, one day after Zilisch’s compelling last-lap win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at The Glen.

“Just upset,” Zilisch said. “I mean, at the worst, I was going to finish inside the top five probably and have my best day in the series by far. I don’t think I could have beaten Shane, but yeah, it’s just frustrating when you’re so close. It sucks.”

Posted on by Staff Report

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell exchanged words on pit road following Sunday’s Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.

The two drivers were spotted speaking to each other as they climbed out of their race cars following the 100-lap showdown on the 2.45-mile road course.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

While it was unclear immediately after the checkered flag what led to the disagreement, the pair both limped home disappointing finishes Sunday, with Bell finishing 21st and Wallace crossing the finish line 29th after a spin in Turn 1 during the final stage.

Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft took to social media to say his driver was not upset with Bell.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR heads to Watkins Glen International for a road-course weekend tripleheader, featuring the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Bookmark this page for everything you need, including qualifying orders, practice speeds, race results and more.

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | TV listings

NASCAR Cup Series

Race day: Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Seven sets for the weekend (five new race sets, one set transferred from qualifying and one for practice). Plus six additional wet-weather sets.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series

Race day: Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Six sets for the weekend (four new race sets, one set transferred from qualifying and one for practice). Plus four additional wet-weather sets.

Note: Qualifying was canceled due to wet-weather conditions. The lineup was set by the rule book. 

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Starting Lineup
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Race day: Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Five sets for the weekend (three new race sets, one set transferred from qualifying and one for practice). Plus four additional wet-weather sets.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

Posted on by Reid Spencer

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Like a world-class hunter stalking defenseless prey, Shane van Gisbergen reasserted his claim to the status as the best road-course racer NASCAR has ever seen.

It’s not just that the New Zealander beat runner-up Michael McDowell to the finish line to win Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen by 7.288 seconds. It was the way SVG ran down late-race leader Ty Gibbs to the tune of 29.2 seconds in 18 laps at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course.

The mythical shark “Jaws” couldn’t have been a more relentless or terrifying pursuer.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

In defending last year’s win at The Glen, Trackhouse Racing’s van Gisbergen scored his seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory — all on road or street courses — and his first this season.

“Unbelievable to win with (the No.) 97,” van Gisbergen said. “Thank you to Trackhouse. We weren’t very good in practice, and then qualifying was amazing. Good tweaks, and then today, so what a race car.

“Then (crew chief) Stephen (Doran) made great calls. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Then to run them down, very, very special to do two in a row. Just stoked for these guys, you know, to execute every facet of our game. Speechless. This is so cool.”

Starting from the pole, van Gisbergen led the first 18 laps before short-pitting the first 20-lap stage. He pitted once again on Lap 41 under a bizarre caution caused by a tent blowing through the air from the camping area onto the race track.

After passing McDowell for the lead on Lap 47, van Gisbergen stayed on the track to win the second stage at Lap 50 and declined to pit on Lap 61 under caution for debris from Joey Logano’s left-front tire. That strategy was contrary to most of the rest of the field.

Van Gisbergen built a lead of more than six seconds before making a green-flag stop on Lap 76. That’s when the heroics began in earnest. 

SHOP: Winner’s gear

Leaving pit road more than 29 seconds behind Gibbs and Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch, van Gisbergen charged through the field in pursuit of the first- and second-place cars. Both Gibbs and Zilisch were saving fuel after pitting on Lap 61 and were racing on tires that were degrading rapidly.

Zilisch dropped from contention on Lap 92 with a flat right-front tire and finished 20th after posting the race’s Xfinity Fastest Lap. One lap later, van Gisbergen muscled past a helpless Gibbs into the lead and stretched his advantage until the finish.

McDowell, on a similar pit strategy to SVG’s, passed Gibbs for second on Lap 95. Gibbs held third, followed by Chase Briscoe and series leader Tyler Reddick, who leaves Watkins Glen with a 129-point lead over second place Denny Hamlin (16th on Sunday).

“Yeah, it’s great. It’s great to get this Chevrolet in the top five,” said McDowell, who had to settle for best-in-class in his No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. “There were moments where I thought, ‘Oh, maybe we can hang with SVG,’ and it felt like he was just pacing himself back off me, and he would take back off.

“In that second stage there, we got a little off strategy and then recovered well, which (crew chief) Travis (Peterson) did a great job of getting the track position when we needed it. Just not quite enough to run him down.

“Like I said, it’s just tough, man. Second is awesome. It’s great to get momentum back on our side. We needed it after a rough few weeks, but we wanted to get to Victory Lane.”

In fuel-saving mode over the last 39 laps, Gibbs couldn’t run the pace he needed to stay ahead of the race winner.

“Honestly, just a little frustrating,” said Gibbs, who picked up his first career Cup Series victory at Bristol in April. “I wish we could keep racing, but unfortunately, just had to save some fuel there.

“Yeah, good to come home with a third-place finish. Obviously, wish it was another win, but you know, had a lot of fun today. Always fun to come to Watkins Glen.”

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon finished sixth — his first top 10 of the season — followed by AJ Allmendinger, RCR teammate Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and John Hunter Nemechek.

In a race that featured six lead changes among four drivers, van Gisbergen led 74 of 100 laps, followed by Gibbs with 17. There were four cautions for 12 total laps.

The Cup Series travels to Dover Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race on May 17 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Ryan Blaney, who signed a long-term contract extension this week with Team Penske, finished 11th with Chris Buescher, Daniel Suárez, Ryan Preece and Cole Custer rounding out the top 15.

A tough day for Hendrick Motorsports resulted in a 23rd-place finish for Kyle Larson with teammate Chase Elliott — last week’s Texas winner — 24th and Alex Bowman 25th. William Byron suffered damage in Stage 2 that dropped the No. 24 car to a 36th-place finish, three laps down.

Logano, a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished last in 38th place, 15 laps down after his tire issue.

Stage 2 recap

Shane van Gisbergen charged from seventh to first in just two laps at Watkins Glen International to score the victory in Stage 2 of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen.

SVG surged back to the front of the field after a mid-stage yellow flag shook up pit strategy for some. Tyler Reddick finished the stage second ahead of Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Connor Zilisch, Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace.

RELATED: Stage 2 results

A burst of wind at Lap 40 led to the first caution for cause in Sunday’s 100-lap contest when a tent from infield blew skyward and landed squarely atop the pavement exiting the esses.

Six cars stayed out under that caution period to gain track position: Michael McDowell, Daniel Suárez, Christopher Bell, Wallace, Riley Herbst and John Hunter Nemechek. SVG had led every lap of the stage until that point and restarted seventh, ahead of Connor Zilisch, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon. Wallace was the only driver of those who stayed out to score stage points.

Trouble occurred on the ensuring restart twice at Lap 44. Herbst spun to the excess pavement in Turn 1 and ended the stage 31st. Once the field approached the inner loop, Buescher and William Byron were in a side-by-side battle that led to an incident.

MORE: Byron around in the bus stop

Buescher hopped the curb to driver’s left entering the chicane and caught Byron’s left rear, sending the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for a spin. Byron, who made his 300th NASCAR Cup Series start Sunday, suffered a broken toe link that needed repair. In total, Byron lost four laps as a result of the incident and runs last, 38th, entering the final stage. Todd Gilliland also spun in the melee while drivers like Connor Zilisch, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith bolted to the grass to driver’s right exiting the bus stop to avoid the spun car of Byron.

The top nine finishers in Stage 2 stayed out under caution with Ross Chastain moving into the top 10 when Wallace hit pit road.

Stage 1 recap

Shane van Gisbergen controlled the pace early at Watkins Glen International, but his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain won Stage 1 of Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (FS1).

Chastain stayed out to collect the stage win, while van Gisbergen and other leaders opted to hit pit road to maintain track position for the Stage 2 restart. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger completed the top five at the end of the 20-lap opening segment.

MORE: Stage 1 results

John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, van Gisbergen, Riley Herbst and Michael McDowell rounded out the top 10. Van Gisbergen and McDowell, who both started on the front row and ran first and second before pit stops began, were the only two leaders who managed to both pit and score stage points. Van Gisbergen led the opening 18 laps before surrendering the lead to Chastain to hit pit road.

Only 15 of the 38 teams in Sunday’s race opted not to pit before the stage break. Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott both elected to stay out in an attempt to score stage points but ultimately were bested by van Gisbergen and McDowell, who were leading but pit.

NOTE: Post-race inspection concluded without issue, confirming van Gisbergen’s victory. The Nos. 17 and 88 cars will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for further inspection.

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on by Staff Report

William Byron made his 300th start in the NASCAR Cup Series after taking the green flag in Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International, but ran into trouble during Stage 2.

On Lap 44, Byron was spun in the bus stop section of the 2.45-mile road course and was hit by 2023 series titleholder Ryan Blaney. The No. 24 Chevrolet suffered a broken toe link and dropped multiple laps down.

Byron ultimately finished three laps down in 36th, his worst finish of 2026.

RELATED: Byron’s driver page | Race Results

The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has made all of his starts at the premier level with the same team — joining a shortlist of drivers to do the same such as Hall of Famers Richard Petty, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and teammate Chase Elliott and Jeff Gordon, vice chairman at Hendrick.

Starting on iRacing and in Legends cars, Byron caught the eye of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and competed for JR Motorsports in the late-model scene in 2014. Byron then broke through into the Craftsman Truck Series in 2016 and stomped the competition with seven wins in 23 races.

Despite not winning the series title that year, Byron earned the call-up to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet for JRM.

Byron tallied four O’Reilly wins in 2017, culminating in a championship and a fast track to Hendrick Motorsports for his rookie campaign in the Cup Series in 2018.

Filling in the shoes of Gordon after Elliott moved from the No. 24 to the No. 9 for the 2018 season, Byron had immense pressure to succeed and it bit him early with winless campaigns in his first two Cup seasons.

Byron eventually broke through in 2020 with his first career trip to Victory Lane in the Daytona summer night race.

He’s tallied 15 Cup triumphs since, highlighted by back-to-back wins in the Daytona 500 (2024, 2025). Byron has qualified for the Cup Series’ postseason in eight consecutive seasons, with a best campaign in 2023 as he scored six victories and finished third in the final standings.

MORE: Byron through the years

Now 12 starts into 2026, Byron sits 12th in the Cup Series standings.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano has seen this story before. The No. 22 Team Penske bunch has been through the ringer multiple times, only to come out the other side stronger.

But with three consecutive finishes of 30th or worse, Logano is coming off the worst three-race swings of his future first-ballot Hall of Fame career. It’s the first time he’s hit those numbers since two months into his rookie Cup season in 2009 while competing for Joe Gibbs Racing.

RELATED: Watkins Glen lineup | What to Watch

“It’s not far off of where we’ve been in the past,” Logano said on Saturday at Watkins Glen International, fresh off qualifying sixth for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I don’t think we’ve had a stretch of races this tough, though. This is probably a little more extreme than we’ve had.”

The rough patch began with a 30th-place effort last month at Kansas Speedway. He was near the front of the lead draft the next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway before getting collected in a 26-car melee. Last week at Texas Motor Speedway, his race was cut short just after the one-third mark, drilling Cole Custer’s No. 41 car on pit road.

Since finishing seventh at Bristol Motor Speedway, Logano has collected 17 points combined in the last three events, sinking to 17th on the outside of The Chase grid, seven points below Chase Briscoe for the final postseason ticket.

“You just keep grinding. What are you supposed to do? You can’t quit,” Logano said when discussing his mindset moving forward. “You’ve got to keep pushing through. It’s a long season, a long way to go. Yeah, it’s been tough — I can’t hide from that. It’s frustrating; it’s hard. I’ve also been here before.

“This is where the tough get going. It is what it is, you have to keep figuring things out and figure out how to be better and get ourselves back where we need to be in points.”

There is room for optimism. During Logano’s most recent championship surge in 2024, he fell as low as 17th in the regular-season championship standings after the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend.

However, the new championship format rewards consistency. Logano holds an average finish of 21.0 — on pace to be the worst of his Cup career — through the first 11 races, best enough for 22nd of the 36 Cup competitors. It ranks worst of the Penske trio (Ryan Blaney 13.1; Austin Cindric 19.0) and below fellow Ford drivers Chris Buescher (11.3), Brad Keselowski (13.3), Ryan Preece (13.8) and Zane Smith (20.1). Logano is looking to end a 36-race winless streak, dating back to the first weekend of May in 2025 at Texas.

Logano isn’t dwelling on any negativity. He knows the capability of the No. 22 team, led by three-time championship-winning crew chief Paul Wolfe. And before wrecking on pit road at Texas, he saw some of that potential rise as he was driving through the field on a treacherous intermediate.

Said Logano: “I look at Texas before we got in that pit-road wreck — speed was there, car was fast, arguably the fastest car that last run as we were trying to get our way through the field. I felt good about that. There are some positives to take out of all those things. So you look at that, learn from the mistakes, and you move on.”

MORE: Paint Scheme Preview | Fantasy Fastlane

Another positive was Logano’s sixth-place qualifying effort for Watkins Glen. For the last number of seasons, road courses were among Penske’s weakest spots. On Sunday, all three entries will take the green flag from inside the top 10, with Cindric leading the charge in third place.

The 2015 Watkins Glen winner has only three top 10s in the last nine visits to the Finger Lakes region. But early track position could set the No. 22 team up well and bank immediate stage points.

“We were in that mode anyways,” Logano said. “You have to look at any of these races these days like, ‘OK, how do you maximize your day?’ Is that by finishing well or creating the most points possible? Sometimes, that means giving up a stage to get the most points possible just depending on where you’re at.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Jesse Love sat in his No. 2 Chevrolet for an extended moment after Saturday’s devastating finish at Watkins Glen International. It was an uneasy bit of reflection, made all the more harsh by how it happened and who had the ultimate benefit.

Love finished with the hardest of hard-luck second places in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at The Glen, letting the lead and what would have been a first victory of the year slip away in the last turn of the last lap. Connor Zilisch, his longtime friend and a road-course standard bearer, was there to pounce, slipping by to win by 0.262 seconds.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Love, the defending series champion, had been in the unenviable task of managing fuel strategy over the final stretch of the Mission 200 at The Glen, all while watching Zilisch close in through his rearview mirror. The 21-year-old Richard Childress Racing driver said those factors broke his concentration. A late entry to the last turn and a right-front tire lock-up were the miscalculations that gave Zilisch the room he needed.

“It’s been a lot of work,” Love said, apologizing as his voice cracked with emotion. “Sorry, I put so much effort into the road-course side of things over the last year and a half, and because of that, I care so much about it. The pieces were there today, this weekend, and I probably wasn’t missing the skill today, I was missing the mental strength to do my job in a situation like that, and it catches me off guard because that’s not who I am, and I’m better than that. And you know, I probably need to feel this pain for a while to be better because of it.”

Zilisch’s mother was among the first to arrive at the No. 2 Chevy to console Love, and the race winner noted the level of respect that the two have held for each other. Using a similar last-corner move in 2023, Love previously got the better of Zilisch in an ARCA Menards Series thriller at The Glen, brushing his way by at the same point of the course. Zilisch was also on the losing end of their championship battle in last year’s O’Reilly Series finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Saturday, Love took the loss especially hard.

“I’ve been very fortunate to not have many traumatizing experiences in my life, but this is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced,” Love said. “I don’t know why. I think I’m just embarrassed at myself and frustrated. He’s been my pedestal on this style of racing since I met him, and I’ve worked so hard, and so many people have worked so hard for me to have days like this where I come out on the other side of it, and you know, I let those people down today so that I don’t take that lightly.”

On a day where Zilisch, Brent Crews and Shane van Gisbergen had some of the strongest showings, Love eventually rotated to the lead after a pit stop on the 48th of 82 laps, positioning him for a 34-lap run to the finish on his final tank of gas. Love took the top spot on Lap 64 after the pit-road cycle was complete.

Zilisch launched a furious pursuit over the final stretch, pressing on even after his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet suffered damage in a pair of incidents – clipping the inner loop grass and also brushing the final-turn barrier on Lap 77. Love was forced to manage an aggressive fuel-conservation play, all while staying aware of Zilisch’s resilient charge.

No. 2 RCR crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. admitted the finish was difficult to process. Asked about Love’s emotional reaction after the race, Stockman replied, “Yeah, I’m struggling myself.”

The crew chief told NASCAR.com, “These races are so hard to win, and it’s difficult. It’s a difficult pill to swallow, but I’m behind my driver 110%. I try to teach these kids right and right from wrong, and I’m glad to hear that he did a good interview and all that stuff, but it’s just when you’re that close and you’re however many feet it was (behind), it’s just a heartbreak, for sure.”

Jesse Love gets a pat on the back from crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. on pit road at Watkins Glen International
Zack Albert | NASCAR Digital Media

The defeat extended Richard Childress Racing’s drought in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series road-course races. The last such triumph came in August 2016, when Michael McDowell scored his lone O’Reilly win driving the RCR No. 2 Chevrolet.

For a time, it appeared Love’s teammate Austin Hill might also carry the team’s hopes. He ran second to Love in the late stages until giving way to Zilisch with seven laps remaining. Hill was on the same pit strategy as Love, but his No. 21 Chevy ran dry on the final lap and he coasted home in 11th place. “Very surprised,” was how Hill reacted when a nearly assured top-five finish evaporated.

“I mean, with how the season’s been for us and things that have happened, that’s just another thing to add to it,” said Hill, who has now gone 10 consecutive races without a top five. “You know, I don’t want to call it luck or anything like that, but just the way that we execute throughout the day and the things that have happened to us, I don’t know what we’ve got to do to, like, have some solid days and finish where we think we should have finished. But all in all, hats off to everybody – RCR, ECR Engines. We went for it. We at least tried.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — With a last-corner pass in a wounded car, Connor Zilisch preserved his perfect record at Watkins Glen International — at the expense of his best friend.

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

The victory was Zilisch’s third straight at the 2.45-mile road course in as many starts, and his second in his fifth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start of the season. It is the 13th win of his O’Reilly Series career. 

Zilisch joins Terry Labonte and Marcos Ambrose as the only drivers to win three consecutive O’Reilly Series races at Watkins Glen.

For the 70th straight race, JR Motorsports put at least one car in the top 10, nine short of RFK Racing’s record (2008-2010). JRM also collected its 11th straight road course victory.

The victory came after Zilisch relentlessly chased down Love, who pitted on Lap 48 of 72 and saved fuel the rest of the way, with Zilisch — after trailing by 18 seconds — chopping significant chunks out of Love’s lead over the final 25 circuits.

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.

On the final lap, Zilisch made up significant ground through the bus stop and took advantage when Love ran wide through the final corner.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“That 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,” Zilisch said. “I wasn’t going to move Jesse in the last corner there, but he got in deep, and I was able to get by.” 

“It’s 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’s my third different crew chief here.” 

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. 

On Saturday, it was Love who was disconsolate. 

“At the end of the day, the glaring piece of it is I had a bad corner,” Love said. “It was definitely a challenging but good experience for me. I’ve never saved fuel on a road course. What a good mental challenge for me.

“All I want to do is beat Connor here (on a road course), right? We’re best friends, and we’ve caused each other a lot of pain. I didn’t execute when I needed to. I think the reason I’m so quiet is I’m just embarrassed, right? As a driver, you just can’t make those mistakes.” 

As a measure of the friendship between the two drivers, the first person to Love’s car after the race was Zilisch’s mother, who gave Love a consoling hug.

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. 

Van Gisbergen was in the mix for the win before contact between his car and Zilisch’s on pit road tore the left front fender on Zilisch’s No. 9 JRM Chevrolet. Van Gisbergen had to pit again for repairs, his chance at a win all but evaporated. 

Crews led a race-high 32 laps, followed by Zilisch with 20 and Love with 18.

After the victory, Zilisch climbed from his car with utmost care, determined not to repeat the fall from the window ledge that cost him a broken collarbone last year.

“It really means a lot to get another one here and get out of the car safely and get onto the ground without killing myself,” Zilisch quipped.

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

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage, confirming Connor Zilisch as the winner.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

Twenty-nine years after his first World of Outlaws Sprint Car start — with a distinguished NASCAR career in between — Kasey Kahne claimed his first victory as a driver in Friday night’s Outlaws event at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Kahne has had enormous success as a World of Outlaws team owner, winning five series championships with driver Brad Sweet and one with Daryn Pittman. A victory of his own, however, continued to elude him — until Friday night.

Substituting for injured Anthony Macri, Kahne held off Sheldon Haudenschild in the closing laps to seal the win on the legendary half-mile dirt track. Kahne’s first start in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series came at Grays Harbor Raceway in his home state of Washington on Aug. 22, 1997.

RELATED: Kasey Kahne through the years

“This is crazy,” Kahne said in Victory Lane. “I couldn’t believe this would happen this weekend. Two weeks ago, I was still building my own cars to get prepared to hopefully race them later this year. Nick Macri and their whole family…

“Man, this whole Macri Motorsports team. (Crew chief) Joe Mooney, he’s exceptional on the wrenches. He worked at KKR (Kasey Kahne Racing), and he’s done so much more since then with Anthony.”

In a NASCAR Cup Series career that spanned 15 years from 2004 through 2018, Kahne won 18 races, including four Crown Jewel events — the Coca-Cola 600 three times (2006,2008 and 2012) and the Brickyard 400 (2017).

His high-water mark came in 2006 when he won six times with Ray Evernham’s fledgling Dodge team. Kahne also won races with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, Richard Petty Motorsports, Red Bull Racing and Hendrick Motorsports.

Two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson, co-founder of the High Limit Racing sprint car series, was delighted to learn of Kahne’s victory.

“Yeah, that was awesome,” Larson said. “I was flying here, so I didn’t get to watch the race live, but I’d gotten texts from multiple people when he won and landed in time to watch his interview and just see how excited everybody was for him… the fans, himself, the team.

“Kasey Kahne’s put a lot into the sport of sprint car racing. He’s achieved everything you can achieve as an owner, so to conquer something that he’s been trying to get for a long time and been somewhat close, was cool. He was fast at Lincoln (Speedway in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania) the other night, and then really good last night, so that was awesome.”