{"id":48114,"date":"2024-09-14T18:40:41","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T23:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=48114"},"modified":"2024-09-21T17:11:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-21T22:11:50","slug":"connor-zilisch-wins-from-the-pole-in-xfinity-series-debut-at-watkins-glen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/14\/connor-zilisch-wins-from-the-pole-in-xfinity-series-debut-at-watkins-glen\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor Zilisch wins from the pole in Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Carolina Carports Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Mission 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on September 14, 2024 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. \u2013 Introducing. \u2026 Connor Zilisch.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old North Carolina native made his formal entr\u00e9e into big time NASCAR racing with a major statement 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 NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in his first career start.<\/p>\n

The Mission 200 at The Glen finished under caution with Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Sheldon Creed finishing runner-up \u2013 for a record 12th time \u2013 emerging from a three-wide battle for second place with a multi-car accident farther behind in the field bringing out the yellow flag that ultimately froze the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked so hard for this one,” a smiling Zilisch said, his voice cracking with emotion. \u201cI\u2019ve been working for this one for months and it\u2019s so special to me, man. I don\u2019t even have words.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith two to go, I didn\u2019t think I was going to make it back to the line even. I\u2019m going to enjoy this one for a while. I can\u2019t say enough about JR Motorsports and everyone who supports me.”<\/p>\n

Zilisch, who also won in class in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona IMSA race, is the seventh driver to win in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start \u2013 a list that includes the legendary Dale Earnhardt and current NASCAR 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

His work Saturday wasn\u2019t necessarily an \u201ceasy\u201d win, however. He really had to earn it – rallying from a mid-race penalty and managing fuel in the closing laps.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 also including Gibbs and Sammy Smith \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust trying to keep the nose on it there, actually really fun,” Creed said of the last lap battle. \u201cI 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\u2019m actually happy, for how my day was going.”<\/p>\n

He finished just ahead of Kaulig Racing\u2019s A.J. Allmendinger, the NASCAR Xfinity Series\u2019 all-time road course best, JGR teammate Chandler Smith and Kaulig\u2019s Shane van Gisbergen, who had won the season\u2019s previous three road course races.<\/p>\n

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 NASCAR Cup Series car for Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Zilisch’s took a call from team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. during his winner’s press conference.<\/p>\n

“Enjoy this, you never win your “first” again,” Earnhardt told him.<\/p>\n

Ross Chastain, who won the pole position for Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series race at the track earlier Saturday, finished sixth in the DGM Racing Chevrolet with Big Machine Racing\u2019s 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 MBM Motorsports\u2019 Josh Bilicki.<\/p>\n

The race was impactful with only a single event now left in the regular season to determine the 12-driver Playoff field. JR Motorsports\u2019 Justin Allgaier finished 17th after an eventful day when the veteran was collected in multiple multi-car incidents. But he still emerged as the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship leader by 43-points over defending series champion, Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s Cole Custer, who finished 21st Saturday after also being caught up in incidents on track.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the standings, JR Motorsports\u2019 Sammy Smith was able to slightly extend his advantage over RSS Racing\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The regular season finale concludes with next Friday night\u2019s Food City 300 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Current NASCAR Cup Series driver Noah Gragson is the defending race winner.<\/p>\n

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Mission 200 at the Glen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watkins Glen International<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watkins Glen, New York<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, September 14, 2024   <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1.      Connor Zilisch, Chevrolet, 90.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    2. (9)  Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 90.<\/p>\n

                    3. (3)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    4. (6)  Chandler Smith, Toyota, 90.<\/p>\n

                    5. (13)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    6. (21)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    7. (19)  Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    8. (11)  Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    9. (33)  Joey Logano(i), Ford, 90.<\/p>\n

                    10. (26)  Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    11. (27)  Austin Green, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    12. (7)  William Byron(i), Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    13. (12)  Riley Herbst, Ford, 90.<\/p>\n

                    14. (23)  Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    15. (35)  Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    16. (32)  Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    17. (4)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    18. (18)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    19. (17)  Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    20. (5)  Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 90.<\/p>\n

                    21. (15)  Cole Custer, Ford, 90.<\/p>\n

                    22. (14)  Ryan Sieg, Ford, 89.<\/p>\n

                    23. (31)  Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 89.<\/p>\n

                    24. (37)  Ed Jones, Toyota, 89.<\/p>\n

                    25. (2)  Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 89.<\/p>\n

                    26. (8)  Aric Almirola, Toyota, 88.<\/p>\n

                    27. (34)  RC Enerson, Chevrolet, 85.<\/p>\n

                    28. (16)  Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 84.<\/p>\n

                    29. (30)  Thomas Annunziata, Toyota, 84.<\/p>\n

                    30. (25)  Mike Skeen, Chevrolet, Accident, 83.<\/p>\n

                    31. (28)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Oil Leak, 81.<\/p>\n

                    32. (38)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Accident, 80.<\/p>\n

                    33. (10)  Austin Hill, Chevrolet, Accident, 80.<\/p>\n

                    34. (24)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Accident, 80.<\/p>\n

                    35. (20)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, Rear Gear, 75.<\/p>\n

                    36. (22)  Alon Day, Chevrolet, Brakes, 57.<\/p>\n

                    37. (36)  Kyle Sieg, Ford, Axle, 54.<\/p>\n

                    38. (29)  Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Rear End, 15.<\/p>\n

    Average Speed of Race Winner:  85.007 mph.<\/p>\n

    Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 35 Mins, 38 Secs. Margin of Victory:  Caution Seconds.<\/p>\n

    Caution Flags:  7 for 19 laps.<\/p>\n

    Lead Changes:  10 among 7 drivers.<\/p>\n

    Lap Leaders:   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.<\/p>\n

    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Connor Zilisch 3 times for 45 laps; William Byron(i) 2 times for 16 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen # 1 time for 14 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 6 laps; AJ Allmendinger 1 time for 5 laps; Ty Gibbs(i) 2 times for 3 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

    Stage #1 Top Ten: 88,7,20,81,18,00,2,98,39,51<\/p>\n

    Stage #2 Top Ten: 17,19,88,1,7,00,98,21,39,51<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

     <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
    \n
     <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. \u2013 Introducing. \u2026 Connor Zilisch. The 18-year-old North Carolina native made his formal entr\u00e9e into big time NASCAR racing with a major statement holding off the field on a pair of thrilling overtime restarts at the historic 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course to claim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":48118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[905,16,181,472],"class_list":["post-48114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-connor-zilisch","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-xfinity-series","tag-watkins-glen-international"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/GettyImages-2172024330-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1881&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cw2","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48114"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48119,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48114\/revisions\/48119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}