Zilisch Completes Watkins Glen Sweep

(WATKINS GLEN, NY – SEP 14, 2024 – RIS) In his NASCAR debut, Connor Zilisch captured his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, capping a weekend that saw him win the pole and lead every lap in the ARCA race on Friday, the win the pole for the Mission 200, leading the entire first stage before leading again late in the race before taking the lead for the final time in a late race caution leading to overtime restarts that had teams worrying about fuel mileage. 

In the twenty laps of the first stage of the Mission 200 at the Glen NASCAR Xfinity race, Conor Zilisch opened up an eleven-second lead on Justin Allgaier and the rest of the field. Zilisch, fresh off a dominant drive in Friday’s ARCA race and leading every practice and qualifying, led from the pole while Ty Gibbs dropped a slot from the start. Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger stayed on the track instead of pitting, inheriting the lead for the restart, after Alon Day’s pit stop looked scary when he hit his tire carrier entering the pit stall. The carrier was uninjured and the Israeli driver continued. 

William Byron moved to third, then second after the stage break, then beat Allmendinger for the lead, stretching out a lead of nearly three and a half seconds ahead of Gibbs at the end of the second stage.

Byron led the final stage until the third turn, when he got tapped and fell back to fifth position. A quick caution for the spin by Mike Skeen and Justin Allgaier in the sixth turn that left Allgaier’s car stalled in the gravel. 

Cole Custer and William Byron ran ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen at the restart, with Byron’s older tires a mild handicap but the balance of the race is too long for the fuel in the cars to get to the finish. Byron swept in to the lead ahead of Custer, with ‘SVG’ nipping at Custer’s rear bumper. Van Gisbergen took the lead for 14 laps before pitting for tires and fuel but was caught speeding on pit road. Zilisch took the lead but might not have enough fuel for the final 15 laps of the race, with Sheldon Creed and Ty Gibbs running second and third, followed closely by AJ Allmendinger.

Matt DiBenedetto coasted to a halt at the inner loop bust stop, causing a caution with five laps left and potentially saving enough fuel for Zilisch to hold onto the lead ahead of Gibbs and Allmendinger, who are also being told to save fuel.  

The restart with two laps left had Zilisch and Gibbs on the front row, Zilisch taking the lead and Allmendinger taking second but a multi-car crash entering the first rurnas the back of the field tried to go four-wide saw Austin Hill stopped in the second turn. NASCAR halted the field under a red flag for the cleanup and recovery operation, with Sam Mayer shown as leading, followed by Ty Gibbs, Chandler Smith and then Connor Zilisch. 

When the halt ended, Allgaier received the ‘free pass’ back onto the lead lap. The overtime restart had Zilisch and Allmendinger on the front row again, Zilisch taking the lead but Gibbs running out of fuel and coasting to a halt in the first run, then a multi-car crash with Brandon Jones spinning across the bus stop into the path of Mike Skeen and causing another caution and green-white-checker. 

Zilisch jumped to the lead as Vn Gisbergen moved to secondin a thiree-wide battle for second, and a major crash at the top of the back straight back in the pack with Berbst spinning across the track along with 

“I’ve been working on this one for months – I was saving [fuel] the last two laps,” said the winner. “Coming in, I just wanted to run all the laps.”

Unofficial Results: Mission 200 at the Glen, September 14, 2024 - Watkins Glen International
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Connor Zilisch, 88, Carolina Carports Chevrolet, 90, 1, 3, 45, 6, 3, 58, Running
2) 9, Sheldon Creed, 18, Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota, 90, 5, , , , , 41, Running
3) 3, AJ Allmendinger, 16, Celsius Chevrolet, 90, , 1, 5, , , 34, Running
4) 6, Chandler Smith, 81, Smith General Contracting Toyota, 90, 4, , , , , 40, Running
5) 13, Shane Van Gisbergen #, 97, WeatherTech Chevrolet, 90, , 1, 14, , , 32, Running
6) 21, Ross Chastain(i), 92, Protect Your Melon Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 0, Running
7) 19, Parker Kligerman, 48, Borchetta Bourbon Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 11, Jesse Love #, 2, Whelen Chevrolet, 90, 7, , , , , 33, Running
9) 33, Joey Logano(i), 15, Panini Ford, 90, , , , , , 0, Running
10) 26, Josh Bilicki, 91, Chemung Supply Corporation Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 27, Austin Green, 32, 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 7, William Byron(i), 17, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 90, , 2, 16, , 1, 0, Running
13) 12, Riley Herbst, 98, Monster Energy Ford, 90, 8, , , , 7, 31, Running
14) 23, Parker Retzlaff, 31, FUNKAWAY Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 35, Ryan Ellis, 43, Rich Mar/Laughlin Family Foundation Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 32, Leland Honeyman #, 42, Excite Motorsports Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 4, Justin Allgaier, 7, BRANDT Chevrolet, 90, 2, , , , 5, 35, Running
18) 18, Jeremy Clements, 51, ASE/Nordic Logistics Chevrolet, 90, 10, , , , 10, 21, Running
19) 17, Sammy Smith, 8, Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 90, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 5, Sam Mayer, 1, 10X Health Chevrolet, 90, , 1, 1, , 4, 24, Running
21) 15, Cole Custer, 00, HighPoint.com Ford, 90, 6, 1, 6, , 6, 26, Running
22) 14, Ryan Sieg, 39, Sci Aps Ford, 89, 9, , , , 9, 19, Running
23) 31, Brennan Poole, 44, Frontline Fire Protection Chevrolet, 89, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 37, Ed Jones, 26, Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota, 89, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 2, Ty Gibbs(i), 19, Starkey Toyota, 89, , 2, 3, , 2, 0, Running
26) 8, Aric Almirola, 20, Go Bowling Toyota, 88, 3, , , , , 19, Running
27) 34, RC Enerson, 14, Lucas Oil School of Racing Chevrolet, 85, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 16, Brandon Jones, 9, Menards/Pelonis Chevrolet, 84, , , , , , 9, Accident
29) 30, Thomas Annunziata, 35, NFPA Toyota, 84, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 25, Mike Skeen, 87, Navy Seal Foundation Chevrolet, 83, , , , , , 7, Accident
31) 28, Jeb Burton, 27, Heartbeat Hot Sauce/Norma Chevrolet, 81, , , , , , 6, Oil Leak
32) 38, Josh Williams, 11, Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet, 80, , , , , , 5, Accident
33) 10, Austin Hill, 21, Global Industrial Chevrolet, 80, , , , , 8, 7, Accident
34) 24, Anthony Alfredo, 5, Ferguson Chevrolet, 80, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 20, Matt DiBenedetto, 38, ReMA Ford, 75, , , , , , 2, Rear Gear
36) 22, Alon Day, 45, JSSI Chevrolet, 57, , , , , , 1, Brakes
37) 36, Kyle Sieg, 28, Lotze Ford, 54, , , , , , 1, Axle
38) 29, Kyle Weatherman, 36, DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet, 15, , , , , , 1, Rear End
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Total Race Length: 90 Laps, 220.5 Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 35 Mins, 38 Secs.
Average Speed: 85.007 MPH
Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 88, 7, 20, 81, 18, 00, 2, 98, 39, 51
Stage 2 Top 10: 17, 19, 88, 1, 7, 00, 98, 21, 39, 51

Comments: Connor Zilisch has won the Mission 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, his first career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: No. 26 (Engine Change), Nos. 11, 15, 27, 92, 97 (Unapproved Adjustments). 

Failed to Qualify: (3) 29 Blaine Perkins, 07 Jade Buford, 13 Kyle Keller.
Cautions: 7 for 19 laps;
Laps: 22-24 (Stage 1 Conclusion [32]);
42-44 (Stage 2 Conclusion [91]);
47-49 (No. 7 Stopped On Track Turn 6 [8]);
78-80 (No. 38 Stalled On Track  [None]);
82-83 (No. 21, 5, 11, 15 Incident Turn 1 [Red Flag: 00:22:27] [7]);
85-88 (No. 9, 87 Incident Inner Loop [42]);
90-90 (No. 98, 26, 44, 39 Incident Backstretch [None]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 7 drivers;
C. Zilisch 1-22;
T. Gibbs(i) 23-24;
A. Allmendinger 25-29;
W. Byron(i) 30-44;
T. Gibbs(i) 45;
C. Custer 46-51;
W. Byron(i) 52;
S. Van Gisbergen # 53-66;
C. Zilisch 67-82;
S. Mayer 83;
C. Zilisch 84-90.