Wild crashes consume bizarre NASCAR Xfinity race at Watkins Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Bizarre is the only way to describe Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International.
Several wild crashes saw every driver walk away but it was in victory lane where medical personnel had to transport winner Connor Zilisch, who was reportedly speaking after he slipped and fell while celebrating in victory lane.
Just as he did nearly a year before in his Xfinity Series debut, Zilisch won the pole and took home the checkered flag at Watkins Glen. Experience rang true as Zilisch led more laps — 60 of 82 laps — and overcame plenty to win.
Zilisch easily paced the field in a quiet pair of stages, winning the second stage.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 20): Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Sheldon Creed, Nick Sanchez, Jesse Love, Harrison Burton, Dean Thompson, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, Matt DiBenedetto.
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 40): Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen, Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, Carson Kvapil, Michael McDowell, Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Austin Green.
In the final stage, everything ramped up.
Throughout the day, Shane van Gisbergen didn’t have as good of a car as teammate Connor Zilisch. However, SVG pitted while Zilisch didn’t before a caution flew for Parker Retzlaff and Sheldon Creed wrecked exiting turn five. As a result, SVG took the lead on lap 56 while Zilisch was farther back.
Within four laps, on lap 60, Zilisch was on SVG’s bumper. Another four laps, on lap 64, and Zilisch had tried everything he could to get by SVG.
Then, entering turn six on lap 65, Zilisch had a clear advantage on SVG but overshot the corner and ran wide. When Zilisch came back on to the track to enter turn seven, he and SVG came together — sending SVG hard into the wall.
SVG finished out of the race while Zilisch carried on. On the subsequent restart, however, Austin Hill moved Zilisch out of the way for the lead. Zilisch dropped to fifth while Hill tried driving away on the subsequent restart.
Until Michael McDowell entered the mix.
McDowell had a strong restart on lap 72 and cleared Hill for the lead going to the esses. Then, the very next lap, Zilisch threw McDowell into the clutches of Hill.
Hill looked to close out a good race wreck-free after serving a 1-race suspension for an intentional wreck at Indianapolis. It was going well until McDowell and 15 other drivers crashed after Hill got into McDowell exiting the carousel corner.
The race was red-flagged for 45 minutes. Once it went green, Hill tried his hand at bumping Zilisch out of the way, choosing the inside lane behind him. Hill had nothing for him and neither did Sammy Smith who briefly cleared teammate Zilisch before a mistake in turn one sent him backward. Zilisch won his seventh career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series by 2.326 seconds over Sam Mayer.
TOP-20 FINISHERS (LAP 82): Connor Zilisch, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, Austin Hill, Carson Kvapil, Justin Allgaier, Austin Green, Christian Eckes, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, Kaz Grala, Brennan Poole, Dean Thompson, Jesse Love, Jeremy Clements, Jeb Burton, Daniel Dye, Taylor Gray, Stefan Parsons, Austin J. Hill.
NEXT: Aug. 22 at Daytona International Speedway.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com