Connor Zilisch makes last-lap pass on Jesse Love to win Watkins Glen O’Reilly race: With a last-corner pass in a wounded car, Connor Zilisch preserved his perfect record at Watkins Glen International—at the expense of his best friend. Running down Jesse Love after pitting with 25 laps left, Zilisch shot past Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in Turn 7 and won a drag race to the finish line to win Saturday’s Mission 200 at the Glen by 0.262 seconds.(Read more)(5-9-2026)

#1-Connor Zilisch made a last-corner pass on #2-Jesse Love to win The Mission 200 at The Glen O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen International. It’s Zilisch’s third consecutive triumph at Watkins Glen and the 13th overall of his career.
#2-Love stretched his fuel tank to finish runner-up but overcooked the final corner to give up the lead. #54-Taylor Gray and #32-Ross Chastain also stretched their tanks to crack the top five. #20-Brandon Jones rounded out the top five, earning his best Watkins Glen finish.
#19-Brent Crews won the opening stage and led a race-high 32 laps en route to a sixth-place effort. #99-Parker Retzlaff, #9-Shane van Gisbergen, #87-Austin Green and #7-Justin Allgaier complete the top 10.
There were 13 lead changes among six drivers and five cautions for 13 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 92.640 mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.

Watkins Glen Paint Schemes

Race Fast Facts – Watkins Glen International:
Connor Zilisch(i) won the Mission 200 at The Glen, his 13th victory in 41 O’Reilly Series races.
This is his second victory and third top-10 finish in 2026.
This is his third victory and third top-10 finish in three races at Watkins Glen International.
Jesse Love (second) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Watkins Glen International. It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2026.
Taylor Gray (third) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Watkins Glen International.
Brent Crews (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 155 points over Sheldon Creed

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase Standings after Watkins Glen (Race 13 of 33):
1)#7-Justin Allgaier 640, +336
2)#00-Sheldon Creed 485, +181
3)#2-Jesse Love 479, +175
4)#20-Brandon Jones 433, +129
5)#17-Corey Day 422, +118
6)#8-Sammy Smith 399, +85
7)#21-Austin Hill 392, +88
8)#91-Carson Kvapil 380, +76
9)#99-Parker Retzlaff 362, +58
10)#54-Taylor Gray 345, +41
11)#19-Brent Crews 324, +20
12)#41-Sam Mayer 321, +17
Currently below cutline
13)#18-William Sawalich 304, -17
14)#88-Rajah Caruth 300, -21
15)#39-Ryan Sieg 292, -29
16)#44-Brennan Poole 257, -64
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.

Race Updates:
Lap 82: #1-Zilisch passes #2-Love through Turn 7 to score the victory. #54-Gray, #32-Chastain and #20-Jones round out the top five. #19-Crews, #99-Retzlaff, #9-van Gisbergen, #87-Green and #7-Allgaier complete the top 10. #21-Hill ran out on the final lap and coasted to 11th.
Lap 81: #2-Love holds a .663-second lead at the white flag.
Lap 80: #2-Love lost a half-second to #1-Zilisch and the lead is 1.3 seconds with two laps remaining.
Lap 79: #1-Zilisch gained seven-tenths of a second and is 1.8 seconds off the race lead with three laps remaining.
Lap 76: #1-Zilisch got in the mud driving through the bus stop and has a right-front tire rub. He bounced off the wall on the exit of Turn 7.
Lap 75: #2-Love is directed to race hard and not save anymore fuel. #1-Zilisch passes #21-Hill for second position, 3.7 seconds off the race lead.
Lap 73: #2-Love continues saving fuel with #1-Zilisch quickly approaching. The lead is down to 5.3 seconds.
Lap 70: #1-Zilisch takes third position from #54-Gray, 7.9 seconds off the race lead. #2-Love and #21-Hill are being directed to save a lot of fuel.
Lap 67: #2-Love leads #21-Hill by 2.1 seconds. #1-Zilisch has raced to fifth, 12.8 seconds off the lead.
Lap 64: #88-Caruth hits pit road, handing the lead to #2-Love. #21-Hill has moved up to second, also looking to stretch the fuel mileage.
Lap 63: #41-Mayer, #39-Sieg and #96-Alfredo all hit pit road.
Lap 62: #9-van Gisbergen pits from the lead, handing it back over to #88-Caruth. #2-Love in second leads the drivers of those trying to stretch their fuel tank to the finish. #50-Pardus is also on pit road.
Lap 60: #32-Chastain nailed a tire pack through Turn 1 after locking up the front tires.
Lap 59: #7-Allgaier and #8-Smith hit pit road for the final time.
Lap 57: #1-Zilisch dips onto pit road with #20-Jones. After a 21-second pit stop from Crews, Zilisch re-entered the track a couple of seconds ahead.
Lap 56: #19-Crews pits from the race lead. #24-Burton also dips onto pit road from fourth position.
Lap 55: #9-van Gisbergen is up to fifth position, passing #88-Caruth and #7-Allgaier in one swoop.
Lap 54: #17-Day hits pit road for a final scheduled pit stop.
Lap 53: #1-Zilisch takes the runner-up position from #20-Jones, 2.5 seconds behind #19-Crews.
Lap 52: #9-van Gisbergen shoved #41-Mayer wide entering Turn 1 and had to weave through the tire barriers to get back on the course. Van Gisbergen is up to eighth position.
Lap 51: #1-Zilisch passes #24-Burton to take third position.
Lap 50: #19-Crews drove out to a half-second lead in the first few hundred yards of the restart after the restart zone. #1-Zilisch went low entering Turn 1 and chipped away a few positions up to fourth.
Lap 48: #2-Love, #21-Hill, #99-Retzlaff, #54-Gray, #32-Chastain, #31-Perkins, #87-Green and #02-Ellis all pitted, likely for the final time.
Lap 46: #7-Allgaier hopped the curb in the bus stop and knocked #00-Creed off the track. Creed’s splitter got stuck in the grass and he launched in the air.
Lap 44: #19-Crews races out to the lead on the restart with #21-Hill sliding into second. #2-Love, #17-Day and #20-Jones complete the top five.
Lap 43: #9-van Gisbergen pits again during the stage break to assess the left-front damage.
Lap 42: #19-Crews, #2-Love, #21-Hill, #20-Jones, #99-Retzlaff, #17-Day, #88-Caruth, #24-Burton, #91-Kvapil and #31-Perkins all stay out for track position. #9-van Gisbergen made contact with #1-Zilisch exiting his pit stall.
Lap 40: #1-Zilisch wins Stage 2, his second stage victory of the season. #19-Crews, #9-van Gisbergen, #7-Allgaier, #2-Love, #54-Gray, #21-Hill, #41-Mayer, #8-Smith and #20-Jones score stage points.
Lap 38: #19-Crews is hounding #1-Zilisch for the lead. #9-van Gisbergen has fallen over one-second off the lead.
Lap 36: #1-Zilisch gets the advantage on the restart, with #19-Crews filing into second. #9-van Gisbergen fell to third position.
Lap 35: #88-Caruth is the first car to pit from 15th position. #24-Burton, #91-Kvapil, #28-Sieg and #31-Perkins also hit pit road. When Kvapil left pit road, he nailed a crew member from Sieg’s team. #51-Clements went to the garage.
Lap 33: #45-Scott spun on the entry of Turn 7 and backed into the outside wall with his bumper cover falling onto the track to bring out the caution.
Lap 30: #54-Gray has dropped to ninth since the restart, losing three spots in the last lap. #19-Crews passes #8-Smith on the outside entering Turn 6.
Lap 29: #1-Zilisch dives into Turn 1 under #9-van Gisbergen to take the race lead. #19-Crews is working over #2-Love for fourth position with a push from #7-Allgaier.
Lap 28: #9-van Gisbergen launches out of the restart zone to get the lead from #1-Zilisch. #8-Smith, #2-Love and #19-Crews complete the top five.
Lap 25: #45-Scott spins entering Turn 1 and #51-Clements gets stuffed into the inside tire barriers to bring out the caution.
Lap 24: #1-Zilisch maintains the lead on the restart. #9-van Gisbergen settles into second. #8-Smith, #2-Love and #19-Crews complete the top five. #54-Gray dropped three spots in the opening lap of the restart.
Lap 22: #19-Crews wins the race off pit road. #2-Love leaped two positions on pit road. #1-Zilisch, #9-van Gisbergen, #54-Gray and #8-Smith stayed out after short-pitting the opening stage. #19-Crews will restart in fifth.
Lap 20: #19-Crews wins Stage 1, his first career stage victory. #41-Mayer, #7-Allgaier, #2-Love, #20-Jones, #21-Hill, #88-Caruth, #99-Retzlaff, #32-Chastain and #39-Sieg earned stage points.
Lap 18: Race leader #19-Crews will not flip the stage and elect to score stage points, holding a 9.5-second race lead over #41-Mayer.
Lap 17: #1-Zilisch, #9-van Gisbergen, #54-Gray, #8-Smith, #44-Poole, #91-Kvapil all pit to flip the stage.
Lap 15: #21-Hill continues to struggle to pass #88-Caruth for eighth position. #54-Gray and #8-Smith have also closed in on the battle for position. #18-Sawalich is off the pace with a blown engine. #9-van Gisbergen passed #7-Allgaier for fourth position.
Lap 12: #1-Zilisch has raced to second position, five seconds behind #19-Crews.
Lap 11: #88-Caruth continues slipping through the field after starting on the pole. He has dropped to eighth position, in the clutches of #21-Hill, #18-Sawalich and #99-Retzlaff.
Lap 8: #1-Zilisch takes third position from #7-Allgaier, 5.5 seconds behind race leader #19-Crews.
Lap 6: #35-Wilson has slid off the course in Turn 6 with damage to the left-front fender.
Lap 5: #1-Zilisch is moving quickly through the field, already up to fourth after starting in 17th position. #48-Staropoli blew an engine exiting Turn 7.
Lap 4: #19-Crews blows by #41-Mayer entering Turn 1 to take the race lead. Mayer missed the entry of the corner and needed to woe up from hitting the tire barriers. #27-Burton is slow on the track with a flat left-front tire.
Lap 2: #19-Crews takes the runner-up spot from #7-Allgaier entering Turn 1 and is closing quickly on #41-Mayer for the lead.
Lap 1:#88-Caruth locked up his front tires and went wide entering Turn 1, moving #7-Allgaier up the track. #41-Mayer prevails with the race lead. Allgaier settles into second with #19-Crews, Caruth and #20-Jones rounding out the top five.

Race Info:
Mission 200 at The Glen
Broadcast: CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 82 laps / 200.9 miles
Stages: 20 / 40 / 82
Average time of race: 2:29:20
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph
Fuel Window: 32 laps

Cars to the rear: #00-Sheldon Creed (damage repair), #26-Dean Thompson (transmission), #35-Matt Wilson (power steering, brakes).

Pit-Stall Selections

Qualifying for The Mission 200 at The Glen O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen International was canceled due to a wet race track. The field will be set per the rule book with #88-Rajah Caruth starting on the pole.
JR Motorsports will have control of the front row with #7-Justin Allgaier in second. #00-Sheldon Creed, #19-Brent Crews and #41-Sam Mayer round out the top five.
#99-Parker Retzlaff, #20-Brandon Jones, #2-Jesse Love, #21-Austin Hill and #8-Sammy Smith complete the top 10.
Pre-race favorites #9-Shane van Gisbergen will start 12th and #1-Connor Zilisch will line up 17th.
See the complete Watkins Glen Starting Lineup.

Qualifying Order

Practice for the The Mission 200 at The Glen O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen International is complete. The top five, slowest, news and notes:
#19-Brent Crews 122.172 mph
#1-Connor Zilisch 122.049 mph
#9-Shane van Gisbergen 120.985 mph
#41-Sam Mayer 120.841 mph
#2-Jesse Love 120.836 mph
Slowest: #53-Derek White 79.658 mph
Most laps run: #42-Will Rodgers, 26
Best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 1 driver): #92-Alex Guenette 99.457 mph
Notes: The session was extended in place of qualifying. Practice began on a wet track with wet-weather tires implemented and continued drying up throughout the session. #35-Matt Wilson never made a timed up.
See full Watkins Glen Practice Results.

Crew Rosters

Goodyear Tire Notes: NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams will also run on familiar Goodyear Racing Eagle tires this weekend. Teams in both series will use identical tire setups; O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams ran this setup at COTA in March.

There are 39 drivers/teams on the entry list for The Mission 200 at The Glen O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen International. One car will miss the race.
Notables: #0-Alex Labbe, #9-Shane van Gisbergen, #32-Ross Chastain, #35-Matt Wilson, #42-Will Rodgers, #50-Preston Pardus, #53-Derek White, #55-Glen Reen, #91-Carson Kvapil.
The #74 for Mike Harmon Racing withdrew from the original entry list.
See the full Watkins Glen Entry List.

Watkins Glen At-Track Schedule

Race rules and information: (Will be updated for 2026 as needed).

• Inspection Penalty Protocol
• Pit Road Penalties
• Pit Road Speeds
• Points Explanation
• Qualifying Procedures