• NASCAR Cup Series
  • Xfinity Series

Mission 200 at the Glen Race Results

Watkins Glen International

September 14th, 2024

Join now to earn points for watching the race! Thank you for visiting NASCAR Race Center. Fan Rewards members earn 50 points to check in to a race on the leaderboard.
Join now to earn points for watching the race! Earn 50 rewards points when you check in to the race. LEARN MORE Already registered? Click here to sign in

RESULTS

START POS

FINAL STATUS

LAPS COMPLETED

LAPS LED

POINTS

PLAYOFF POINTS

1

Connor Zilisch

88 |

1

Running

90

45

58

0

2

Sheldon Creed

18 |

9

Running

90

0

41

0

3

AJ Allmendinger

16 |

3

Running

90

5

34

0

4

Chandler Smith

81 |

6

Running

90

0

40

0

5

Shane Van Gisbergen

97 |

13

Running

90

14

32

0

6

Ross Chastain

92 |

21

Running

90

0

0

0

7

Parker Kligerman

48 |

19

Running

90

0

30

0

8

Jesse Love

2 |

11

Running

90

0

33

0

9

Joey Logano

15 |

33

Running

90

0

0

0

10

Josh Bilicki

91 |

26

Running

90

0

27

0

11

Austin Green

32 |

27

Running

90

0

26

0

12

William Byron

17 |

7

Running

90

16

0

0

13

Riley Herbst

98 |

12

Running

90

0

31

0

14

Parker Retzlaff

31 |

23

Running

90

0

23

0

15

Ryan Ellis

43 |

35

Running

90

0

22

0

16

Leland Honeyman

42 |

32

Running

90

0

21

0

17

Justin Allgaier

7 |

4

Running

90

0

35

0

18

Jeremy Clements

51 |

18

Running

90

0

21

0

19

Sammy Smith

8 |

17

Running

90

0

18

0

20

Sam Mayer

1 |

5

Running

90

1

24

0

21

Cole Custer

00 |

15

Running

90

6

26

0

22

Ryan Sieg

39 |

14

Running

89

0

19

0

23

Brennan Poole

44 |

31

Running

89

0

14

0

24

Ed Jones

26 |

37

Running

89

0

13

0

25

Ty Gibbs

19 |

2

Running

89

3

0

0

26

Aric Almirola

20 |

8

Running

88

0

19

0

27

RC Enerson

14 |

34

Running

85

0

10

0

28

Brandon Jones

9 |

16

Accident

84

0

9

0

29

Thomas Annunziata

35 |

30

Running

84

0

8

0

30

Mike Skeen

87 |

25

Accident

83

0

7

0

31

Jeb Burton

27 |

28

Oil Leak

81

0

6

0

32

Josh Williams

11 |

38

Accident

80

0

5

0

33

Austin Hill

21 |

10

Accident

80

0

7

0

34

Anthony Alfredo

5 |

24

Accident

80

0

3

0

35

Matt DiBenedetto

38 |

20

Rear Gear

75

0

2

0

36

Alon Day

45 |

22

Brakes

57

0

1

0

37

Kyle Sieg

28 |

36

Axle

54

0

1

0

38

Kyle Weatherman

36 |

29

Rear End

15

0

1

0

Join now to earn points for watching the race! Thank you for visiting NASCAR Race Center. Fan Rewards members earn 50 points to check in to a race on the leaderboard.
Join now to earn points for watching the race! Earn 50 rewards points when you check in to the race. LEARN MORE Already registered? Click here to sign in
  • POS 1 | LEADER

    headshot of Connor Zilisch

    POS1

    LEADER

    Connor Zilisch

    Driver badge number 88 |

  • POS 2 | 0.319

    headshot of Sheldon Creed

    POS2

    0.319

    Sheldon Creed

    Driver badge number 18 |

  • POS 3 | 0.779

    headshot of AJ Allmendinger

    POS3

    0.779

    AJ Allmendinger

    Driver badge number 16 |

Connor Zilisch dazzles in Xfinity Series debut, wins at Watkins Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Introducing. … Connor Zilisch.

The 18-year-old North Carolina native made his formal entrée into big-time NASCAR racing with a major statement by holding off the field on a pair of thrilling overtime restarts at the historic 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course to claim his first career Xfinity Series victory in his first career start.

The Mission 200 at The Glen finished under caution with Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Sheldon Creed finishing runner-up — for a record 12th time — emerging from a three-wide battle for second place with a multicar accident farther behind in the field bringing out the yellow flag that ultimately froze the field.

“I worked so hard for this one,” a smiling Zilisch said, his voice cracking with emotion. “I‘ve been working for this one for months and it‘s so special to me, man. I don‘t even have words.

“I don‘t know how I saved enough, I sputtered up the hill,” he said of having to save fuel in the closing laps which included a restart with two laps remaining and then two more in overtime.

“With two to go, I didn‘t think I was going to make it back to the line even. I‘m going to enjoy this one for a while. I can‘t say enough about JR Motorsports and everyone who supports me.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Zilisch, who also won in the LMP2 class in this year’s IMSA Rolex 24 at Daytona, is the seventh driver to win in his first Xfinity Series start — a list that includes the legendary Dale Earnhardt and current Cup Series standout Ty Gibbs. And he becomes the second youngest race winner — to Joey Logano — in series history at 18 years, one month and 23 days.

It was that kind of weekend for the young driver, who led a race-best 45 of the 90 laps after earning his first career Xfinity Series pole position earlier Saturday. On Friday, he claimed his fifth ARCA Menards Series victory in seven starts.

His work on Saturday wasn‘t necessarily an “easy” win, however. He really had to earn it — rallying from a mid-race penalty and managing fuel in the closing laps.

In an unusual situation during a caution, Zilisch received a penalty while running among the top three late in the race. NASCAR ruled the top-running trio — also including Gibbs and Sam Mayer — cut the course and the penalty sent them all to the rear for the restart. Zilisch rallied from 31st place and was top-five 20 laps later.

Creed, who is still competing for that first series victory after so many close calls, smiled on pit road Saturday, conceding this time his second-place finish was one he could actually be pleased with instead of seeing it as a near-miss. His rally on the final lap, getting the best of some of the best road course drivers was a small victory in and of itself.

“Just trying to keep the nose on it there, actually really fun,” Creed said of the last lap battle. “I felt like that was the battle for the win probably there if the 88 [Zilisch] ran out [of fuel]. I thought I put myself in really good positions to end up second again. I‘m actually happy, for how my day was going.”

He finished just ahead of Kaulig Racing‘s AJ Allmendinger, the Xfinity Series‘ all-time road course best, JGR teammate Chandler Smith and Kaulig‘s Shane van Gisbergen, who had won the season‘s previous three road course races.

Van Gisbergen was so impressed with Zilisch that when he congratulated the teenager in Victory Lane, he smiled and suggested some team should put Zilisch in a Cup Series car for Sunday‘s race.

Zilisch took a call from team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. during his winner’s press conference.

“Enjoy this, you never win your “first” again,” Earnhardt told him.

MORE: Xfinity Series schedule | Xfinity Series standings

Ross Chastain, who won the pole for Sunday‘s Cup Series race at the track earlier Saturday, finished sixth in the DGM Racing Chevrolet with Big Machine Racing‘s Parker Kligerman scoring a seventh-place finish. Richard Childress Racing rookie Jesse Love was eighth, followed by Joey Logano in the AM Racing car and Josh Bilicki rounding out the top 10.

The race was impactful with only a single event now left in the regular season to determine the 12-driver playoff field. JR Motorsports‘ Justin Allgaier finished 17th after an eventful day when the veteran was collected in multiple multi-car incidents. But he still emerged as the Xfinity Series championship leader by 43 points over defending series champion, Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Cole Custer, who finished 21st Saturday after also being caught up in incidents on track.

At the other end of the standings, JR Motorsports‘ Sammy Smith was able to slightly extend his advantage over RSS Racing‘s Ryan Sieg for the 12th and final playoff position. Despite a mechanical issue from his first green flag pit stop, Smith was able to rally to a 19th-place finish. Sieg, who collected points during the second stage, is now 44 points behind Smith heading to Bristol.

The regular-season finale concludes with next Friday night‘s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Justin Allgaier is the defending race winner.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Xfinity Series garage, confirming Connor Zilisch as the winner.