ZILISCH CAPTURES 2ND STRAIGHT WIN; TRANSPORTED TO HOSPITAL FOLLOWING VICTORY LANE FALL (24 PHOTOS) (2025-08-09)
BY HOLLY CAINNASCAR Wire ServiceWATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – It was as hard-earned a victory as the 19-year old Connor Zilisch has claimed in his brief NASCAR career – answering his win from pole position a year ago in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at the historic Watkins Glen International road course with a second consecutive victory Saturday afternoon in a crash-heavy Mission 200 at The Glen.
As Zilisch climbed out of the cockpit and onto the door ledge of his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to celebrate his series-best sixth trophy of the season, he slipped and fell to the ground. Medical teams arrived immediately to tend to him and transported him on a backboard to the trackside medical center.
NASCAR confirmed Zilisch was “awake and alert” and that he was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
Zilisch later announced on social media that he broke his collarbone. He has withdrawn from tomorrow’s Cup race.
The incident followed an action-packed day of competition on the famed 2.45-mile road course that included fierce racing at the front of the field and a 45-minute red flag for a series’ track record 16-car accident with eight laps remaining.
Ultimately, Zilisch – who led 60 of the race’s 82 laps -- motored off to a 2.326-second win over Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer – that sixth win, one shy of Christopher Bell’s rookie record six victories set in 2018.
It was an afternoon of high drama throughout the field.
The highly-anticipated competitive duel between the JR Motorsports teammates Zilisch and road course ace Shane Van Gisbergen at the front of the field was evident from the weekend’s practice and qualifying - and ultimately the race. Zilisch claimed the pole position and started alongside the 35-year old former Australian SuperCar Series champion on the front row; something that has become a familiar look for the road racing aces.
For much of the day it looked like the final outcome would indeed come down to Zilisch and Van Gisbergen. They raced out front for the majority of the day before making contact with 16 laps remaining.
Zilisch inherited the lead and immediately relayed to his crew “he [Van Gisbergen] spun off my nose” and told his crew again “if I wrecked him, tell me.” He was told to “shake it off” and go racing.
Van Gisbergen, who will start from outside the front row again in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the track did not put any blame on Zilisch and said he needed to look at a replay.
“Pretty gutted really, gutted for the JR Motorsports guys,’’ Van Gisbergen said. “The car wasn’t great but we still managed to get ourselves in good position.
“I haven’t seen it yet,’’ he said when pressed on what happened. “Will watch it later and work it out.’’
On the ensuing green flag from the incident, Austin Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevy tagged the right rear of Zilisch’s car going into the first turn, giving the veteran Hill the lead as Zilisch gathered his car wide of the racing line. A caution came out immediately for debris elsewhere on track putting Hill and NASCAR Cup Series road racing ace Michael McDowell out front for a restart.
Only eight laps after that, Zilisch raced forward from fifth place and navigated around Hill. Moments later Hill’s car had big contact with McDowell’s triggering the massive 16-car pileup.
McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner, took the most dramatic hit in the big accident, sliding hard into the walls on both sides of the Turns 5 and 6 section of the course. Despite the stirring incident in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start in nine years, McDowell was not injured, however, and gave a complete review of the incident, even offering a smile.
“That was unfortunate and I just hate it for everybody at Kaulig Racing,’’ McDowell said of the crash. “We had a couple shots at it and was hoping to get to victory lane but that was unfortunate. … But that’s racing and thankful to everybody at Kaulig. Was trying to do a good job for them there.”
Hill, who ultimately finished fourth, spoke with The CW television live broadcast during the red flag.
“The 11 [McDowell] had been struggling a little bit in front of me for a few laps,’’ Hill said of the incident. “I thought if I got a big enough run I might could get to his left side and get that position.
“I hate it for everyone involved, that was definitely not what I wanted to happen coming back from what we had going on,’’ continued Hill. “All we can do is get it behind us, put our head down and we’ve still got a shot to win this thing. Got to get my mind right for this re-start.’’
Zilisch’s JR Motorsports teammate Sammy Smith finished third followed by Hill and JRM’s Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier.
Jordan Anderson Racing’s Austin Green, Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and AM Racing’s Harrison Burton rounded out the top-10.
Three races remain now before the Playoffs. Zilisch and his teammate Allgaier - who each won a race stage on Saturday and remain atop the championship standings. Zilisch leads Allgaier by seven points.
With his 10th-place showing, Burton is holding on to the important 12th place Playoff transfer position. He is 30 points ahead of his cousin Jeb Burton and 38 up on Ryan Sieg.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will take a one-week break this weekend before returning to competition in the Aug. 22 Friday night Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ryan Truex is the defending race winner.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race - Mission 200 At The Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, New York
Saturday, August 9, 2025
1. (1) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 82.
2. (4) Sam Mayer, Ford, 82.
3. (6) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 82.
4. (10) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 82.
5. (14) Carson Kvapil #, Chevrolet, 82.
6. (9) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 82.
7. (18) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 82.
8. (36) Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, 82.
9. (13) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 82.
10. (17) Harrison Burton, Ford, 82.
11. (8) Kaz Grala(i), Toyota, 82.
12. (31) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 82.
13. (19) Dean Thompson #, Toyota, 82.
14. (15) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 82.
15. (30) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 82.
16. (23) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 82.
17. (21) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 82.
18. (3) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 82.
19. (26) Stefan Parsons(i), Chevrolet, 82.
20. (38) Austin J. Hill, Chevrolet, 82.
21. (35) Glen Reen, Toyota, 82.
22. (22) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 82.
23. (32) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 80.
24. (7) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, Accident, 75.
25. (12) Michael McDowell(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 73.
26. (5) William Sawalich #, Toyota, Accident, 73.
27. (27) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, Accident, 73.
28. (29) Ryan Sieg, Ford, Accident, 73.
29. (33) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Accident, 73.
30. (28) Kyle Sieg, Ford, Accident, 73.
31. (2) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 64.
32. (20) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 63.
33. (24) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Suspension, 52.
34. (34) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 52.
35. (11) Sheldon Creed, Ford, Accident, 50.
36. (16) Riley Herbst(i), Toyota, Engine, 39.
37. (25) Thomas Annunziata, Chevrolet, Accident, 24.
38. (37) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, Engine, 3.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 82.102 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 26 Mins, 49 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.326 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 20 laps.
Lead Changes: 17 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Zilisch # 1-6;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 7;C. Zilisch # 8-18;J. Allgaier 19-21;C. Zilisch # 22-23;W. Sawalich # 24;C. Zilisch # 25-43;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 44;C. Zilisch # 45-53;P. Retzlaff 54;J. Love 55;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 56-64;C. Zilisch # 65-68;A. Hill 69-71;M. McDowell(i) 72;C. Zilisch # 73-77;S. Smith 78;C. Zilisch # 79-82.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Connor Zilisch # 8 times for 60 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen(i) 3 times for 11 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 3 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 3 laps; Parker Retzlaff 1 time for 1 lap; Michael McDowell(i) 1 time for 1 lap; William Sawalich # 1 time for 1 lap; Jesse Love 1 time for 1 lap; Sammy Smith 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,54,00,48,2,25,26,4,39,99
Stage #2 Top Ten: 88,9,41,21,1,11,00,7,8,32
Blaney nabs upset Watkins Glen pole from road-course ace Van Gisbergen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Ryan Blaney claimed his second Busch Light Pole Award of the season Saturday afternoon at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International – his second of the season, 15th of his career and second ever on a road course.
For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series championship career, he’ll lead the field to green in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
It was a dramatic effort for the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang knocking the reigning road course master, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen from the top spot on the speed chart by a slight .33-second with a lap of 122.568 mph around the historic 2.45-mile road course in scenic upstate New York.
It was a markedly different day for the 31-year old North Carolinian Blaney a disappointing showing here a year ago when a poor qualifying effort left him in a vulnerable position – ultimately being eliminated from the race on the opening lap.
He acknowledged that beating the road racing ace Van Gisbergen Sunday will be another story.
“Ninety laps is going to be a little harder to beat him tomorrow, but gotta start somewhere’’ the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion said with a smile. “It’s more neat for me because we had an absolutely abysmal weekend here last year. …
“We’ve worked really hard on where we need to get better here, where I need to do a better job. How can we improve our race cars. So it was like a big dual effort.
“Just proud of their dedication to get better at this place and improving the car from last year and I tried to work on a lot of things. I consider myself a pretty average road course racer and I’ve worked really hard on trying to get better, where can I improve my driving skills and styles and compete a little bit more at these places and it’s neat when that all comes together.
“I try to take these things one day at a time. Tomorrow is a whole different task but it’s nice to have done our job really well today and now about focusing on trying to make 90 good laps tomorrow.’’
It is the 150th NASCAR Cup Series pole for Team Penske, making the storied organization only the fourth team in series history to eclipse that mark.
Blaney and Van Gisbergen – who has three road course wins on the season – will lead the field to the green flag, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, Van Gisbergen’s Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, who for much of the qualifying session looked to have had a front row start.
“That’s not bad,’’ said a smiling Busch, who won from pole position at Watkins Glen in 2008.
“Great job by everyone on this Chevrolet,’’ he added. “Feels good to have a good solid effort like that right now.’’
Defending Watkins Glen race winner, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher will roll off 12th in the No. 17 RFK Ford. He holds the 16th and final points position among the 16-drivers currently aiming for the Playoffs with three regular season races remaining. His teammate Ryan Preece sits just 23 points behind him in the standings and will start 17th.
Their team co-owner Brad Keselowski, who also needs a victory in one of the remaining three regular season races will start 16th. Keselowski has back-up drivers on standby for the next three weeks as his wife Paige is due to give birth to their fourth child. Road course ace Joey Hand is at Watkins Glen.
Championship points leader William Byron – the 2023 Watkins Glen winner – will roll off 10th. His teammate Chase Elliott, a two-time Watkins Glen winner who is 18 points behind Byron with three regular season races remaining will start 20th.
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