Mission 200 at The Glen

Twelve laps left, 3.7 seconds back, a tire-deg curve that wasn't supposed to favor him — and Connor Zilisch hunted down Jesse Love anyway.

Driving for JR Motorsports, Zilisch closed the gap to nothing in the closing laps and was on Love's bumper down the front stretch on the final lap. Love missed his braking marker into the Inner Loop's heavy-stop Turn 7. Zilisch was already there. The slide was clean, the cross-up was decisive, and the No. 88 carried just enough exit speed off the final corner to clear Love before the line — by 0.262 second.

It is Zilisch's third career start at Watkins Glen International across NASCAR national series, and his third trip to victory lane at the 2.45-mile road course. The W is also his second NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win in just five starts of his 2026 part-time campaign.

Rajah Caruth set the day in motion with the pole and led the field into the Esses on the opening lap, but the early shape of the race belonged to Brent Crews. The rookie methodically reeled in Caruth, took the lead inside the first stage, and won Stage 1 — the first stage win of his career. Crews would lead a race-high 32 laps and looked every inch a first-time winner before a vibration in the closing stages slowed his pace and dropped him to a sixth-place finish.

Zilisch took control through Stage 2, banking the segment win and threading the No. 88 through a sequence of yellows that included Lavar Scott's spin, Jeremy Clements' contact with the tire barrier, and a Stage 3 incident that forced Sheldon Creed off the racing surface. Each caution rotated the running order. None of them rotated Love or Zilisch out of the top three.

The decisive long run came inside the final 15 laps, with Love leading by as much as 3.7 seconds. Zilisch's lap times stayed flat while Love's drifted by tenths through the right-handers — exactly the segment of the lap where the No. 88 was strongest all afternoon. With three to go, Zilisch was inside the gap. With one to go, he was on the rear bumper. With Turn 7 on the white-flag lap, he was alongside. Love braked late. Zilisch braked later, with the cutback already loaded.