On an early Saturday morning, the Xfinity Series hits the track at Watkins Glen International for some road course practice before qualifying for the Mission 200 at the Glen.
A full field of 38 drivers will be racing at the Glen including Cup Series drivers Riley Herbst, Michael McDowell, and Shane van Gisbergen.
The drivers get a full 50 minute practice session with two sets of tires. Five time winner Connor Zilisch wasted no time in putting his number 88 car at the top of the leaderboard. He will go for two wins in a row later today.
Austin Hill returns to the track after his one race suspension for reckless driving at Indianapolis and puts his number 21 car in the top five in practice. NASCAR has granted Hill a waiver to remain in the playoffs but he has lost all 21 of his playoff points and will drop to the last position in 12th place.
Connor Zilisch had a broken brake rotor and they had to be replaced. NASCAR considers the change a safety issue and he will not have to move to the back of the field; he can keep his starting spot after qualifying.
Austin J Hill is stopped on the track after an on track incident and leaving fluid on the course.
This year, JR Motorsports has won every road course race on the schedule.
With less than a minute remaining in practice, Sam Mayer and Shane van Gisbergen got loose and nearly crashed. SVG and Eckes do make some contact and have a bit of damage to the cars. Van Gisbergen said there is some work to do but the damage is cosmetic.
At the end of practice, Connor Zilisch tops the leaderboard with Sammy Smith in second; Jesse Love, Justin Allgaier, and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top five.
The drivers have been divided into two groups for a 20 minute group session of qualifying.
Stefan Parsons gets loose making a qualifying run and spins out but he gets the car moving again and the track stays green.
Garrett Smithley, Austin J Hill, and Christian Eckes will not make a qualifying run.
With a time of 70.884 seconds, Connor Zilisch puts his number 88 car on the pole with Shane van Gisbergen alongside on the front row.
The starting lineup for the Mission 200 at the Glen:
Connor Zilisch
Shane van Gisbergen
Taylor Gray
Sam Mayer
William Sawalich
Sammy Smith
Nick Sanchez
Kaz Grala
Justin Allgaier
Austin Hill
Sheldon Creed
Michael McDowell
Brandon Jones
Carson Kvapil
Jesse Love
Riley Herbst
Harrison Burton
Austin Green
Dean Thompson
Anthony Alfredo
Daniel Dye
Parker Retzlaff
Jeb Burton
Matt DiBenedetto
Thomas Annunziata
Stefan Parsons
Josh Bilicki
Kyle Sieg
Ryan Sieg
Jeremy Clements
Brennan Poole
Blaine Perkins
Ryan Ellis
Preston Pardus
Glen Reen
Christian Eckes
Garrett Smithley
Austin J Hil
Stages one and two of the race are 20 laps each with stage three lasting 42 laps for a total of 82 laps around the 2.45 mile course.
Connor Zilisch edged out Shane van Gisbergen for the pole and brings the field down for the green flag start of the race. Zilisch jumps out in front for the lead with van Gisbergen right behind.
Lap two, Connor Zilisch leads the race with Shane van Gisbergen in second; Sam Mayer, Taylor Gra, and William Sawalich round out the top five.
Lap three, running the fastest laps in the field, Connor Zilisch has a lead of over half a second on Shane van Gisbergen.
Lap four, Justin Allgaier passes Nick Sanchez for eighth with Austin Hill right behind.
Garrett Smithley has a heavily smoking car and has to take his car to pit road.
Lap five, Ryan Sieg spins out and Josh Bilicki is mired in the gravel pit to bring out the first caution flag of the race after some on track contact.
Garrett Smithley takes his car to the garage with a mechanical issue.
Connor Zilisch brings the field down for the green flag restart with Shane van Gisbergen alongside on lap eight. After going side by side Zilisch holds on to the lead with William Sawalich taking second; Shane van Gisbergen, Sam Mayer, and Taylor Gray round out the top five.
Lap nine, Connor Zilisch has pulled out to a lead of a second and a half on William Sawalich.
Lap 10, Thomas Annunziata and Anthony Alfredo spin out but keep it out of the gravel and the track stays green.
There is a lot of wheel hopping among the drivers.
Shane van Gisbergen has passed William Sawalich for second and is nearly two second behind leader Connor Zilisch.
Justin Allgaier passes Taylor Gray for fifth.
Preston Pardus takes his car to the garage with a mechanical issue.
Austin Hill passes Sammy Smith for seventh.
Lap 15, Connor Zilisch continues to increase his lead and is now over three seconds out in front of Shane van Gisbergen; William Sawalich, Sam Mayer, and Justin Allgaier round out the top five.
With five laps remaining in stage one, Connor Zilisch has a lead of over four seconds on Shane van Gisbergen.
After an on track incident during practice, Christian Eckes had to start the race from the back of the field has moved up inside the top 25.
With three laps remaining in stage one, Shane van Gisbergen short pits the end of the stage and comes down pit road. Sam Mayer also makes a pit stop.
Leader Connor Zilisch brings his car down pit road to make a pit stop. Justin Allgaier is the new leader.
Justin Allgaier wins stage one for his eighth stage win of the season.
The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Justin Allgaier
Taylor Gray
Sheldon Creed
Nick Sanchez
Jesse Love
Harrison Burton
Dean Thompson
Parker Retzlaff
Ryan Sieg
Matt DiBenedetto
Josh Bilicki is the “lucky dog”.
Drivers who have not pitted come down pit road for service with Justin Allgaier winning the race off of pit road.
Connor Zilisch retakes the lead.
Shane van Gisbergen and Taylor Gray had slow pit stops.
Riley Herbst was charged with speeding on pit road; Blaine Perkins and Josh Bilicki were charged with crew members coming over the wall too soon.
Connor Zilisch brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two with William Sawalich alongside on lap 25. Zilisch jumps out in front to hold on to the lead.
Garrett Smithley is out of the race with an engine issue.
Lap 26, Connor Zilisch has a lead of over a second on William Sawalich; Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, and Shane van Gisbergen round out the top five.
Thomas Annunziata spins out again but gets the car moving again and the track stays green.
Lap 27, Justin Allgaier gets really wide in a three wide battle but saves the car; his is in 13th.
Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill pass Sammy Smith; putting Smith back in sixth place.
Blaine Perkins was charged with a pass through penalty after crew members come over the wall too soon. Perkins came down pit road with a flat tire.
Thomas Annunziata takes his car to the garage with crash damage.
Lap 31, Connor Zilisch had a near four second lead on William Sawalich; Sam Mayer, Shane van Gisbergen, and Austin Hill round out the top five.
The Haas Factory Team cars of Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed had blisters on their stage one tires.
With five laps remaining in stage two, leader Connor Zilisch has pulled out to a near five second lead on William Sawalich; Sam Mayer, Shane van Gisbergen, and Austin Hill round out the top five.
Lap 36, Shane van Gisbergen passes Sam Mayer for third.
Connor Zilisch now has a lead of over five seconds on William Sawalich.
Lap 37, William Sawlich comes down pit road for service to short pit the end of the stage. The other JGR drivers also make their pit stops.
Shane van Gisbergen passes Sam Mayer for second.
Daniel Dye has to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire while pit road is closed. He will have to restart the race from the back of the field.
Connor Zilisch wins stage two by nearly six seconds.
The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Connor Zilisch
Shane van Gisbergen
Sam Mayer
Austin Hill
Carson Kvapil
Michael McDowell
Sheldon Creed
Justin Allgaier
Samm Smith
Austin Green
Riley Herbst has an engine issue and is out of the race.
Blaine Perkins is the “lucky dog”.
The drivers cannot complete the race on a single load of fuel and will have to make a stop at some point.
Anthony Alfredo takes his car to the garage with fuel pressure issues.
Some of the drivers come down pit road for service; leaders stay out.
Jeb Burton was caught speeding on pit road and had too many crew over the wall.
Connor Zilisch brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three on lap 44 with Shane van Gisbergen alongside. Zilisch takes the lead.
The top five are Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, and Michael McDowell.
Christian Eckes comes down pit road for service.
Jeb Burton’s crew reports that a flat tire caused a number of issues in the car.
With 35 laps remaining in the race, Connor Zilisch has pulled out to a lead of nearly two seconds on Shane van Gisbergen; Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, and Michael McDowell round out the top five.
With 32 laps to go, Connor Zilisch has a near three second lead on Shane van Gisbergen.
Lap 51, Shane van Gisbergen comes down pit road for service.
The caution flag comes out on lap 52 for Sheldon Creed who crashed after some on track contact with Parker Retzlaff. Creed gets out of the car and examines the damage.
Lap 53, drivers come down pit road for service. With Carson Kvapil willing the race off of pit road. Connor Zilisch comes out in fourth place.
Jesse Love made his pit stop before the caution with Shane van Gisbergen but took fuel only allowing him to beat SVG off of pit road.
Blaine Perkins was charged with having crew over the wall too soon again and Jeb Burton was charged with pitting too soon.
Parker Retzlaff leads the race and brings the field down for the green flag restart with Jesse Love alongside on lap 54. Jesse Love takes the lead. Shane van Gisbergen passes Jesse Love for the lead.
The top five are Shane van Gisbergen, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Michael McDowell, and Nick Sanchez.
Connor Zilisch passes Nick Sanchez for fifth.
Austin Hill passes Jesse Love for second.
Connor Zilisch passes Jesse Love for third.
With 25 laps remaining in the race, Shane van Gisbergen has just a third of a second lead on Austin Hill; Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell, and William Sawalich round out the top five.
Connor Zilisch and Austin Hill battle for second with Zilisch taking the spot.
Lap 60, Connor Zilisch has just a quarter of a second lead on Connor Zilisch.
Matt DiBenedetto is out of the race.
With 20 laps to go, Connor Zilisch begins the battle to take the lead.
Twenty to go! the top five are Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Austin Hill, Michael Mcdowell, and William Sawalich.
Austin Hill was over a second back and came up to make it a three way battle for the lead.
The caution flag comes out on lap 65 when leader Shane van Gisbergen makes spins out and hits the wall hard after contact from Connor Zilisch. Running three tires, SVG limps the car back to pit road and is out of the race. Zilisch went wide and made contact with the right rear coming back on the course. SVG hits the barrier hard enough to lift the car off the ground.
Connor Zilisch brings the field down for the green flag restart with just 14 laps remaining in the race with Austin Hill alongside. Zilisch edges out for the lead. Austin Hill bumps Zilisch out of the way and takes the lead; Michael McDowell takes second.
The caution flag comes out for debris on the track.
Austin Hill brings the field down for the green flag restart with Michael McDowell alongside with eleven laps remaining in the race. Hill and McDowell go side by side with McDowell taking the lead.
The top five are Michael McDowell, Austin Hill, Sammy Smith, Connor Zilisch, and Sam Mayer.
Connor Zilisch passes Austin Hill for second and battles with Michael McDowell for the lead.
Ten to go, Connor Zilisch leads the race with Michael McDowell in second; Austin Hill, Sammy Smith, and Sam Maher round out the top five.
The caution flag comes out with nine laps to go for a big crash when Austin Hill went wide and clipped Michael McDowell coming back on the course and sent McDowell spinning. Jesse Love, Ryan Ellis, Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Sieg, Ryan Sieg, Taylor Gray, Preston Pardus, William Sawalich, Kaz Grala, Dean Thompson, Daniel Dye, Jeb Burton, Nick Sanchez, and Josh Bilicki were all involved in the massive pile up.
It was the largest crash on record for Watkins Glen.
NASCAR has red flagged the race. Cars, track officials, and safety workers block the track.
All of the drivers involved in the crash exited their cars and walked away. NASCAR mandates that they all must go to the infield care center and be checked out.
Track workers must also repair the barrier while workers continue the clean up.
A loose tire went flying and hit the hood William Sawalich’s car.
Michael McDowell is out of the care center and ok!
NASCAR track officials are bringing in some concrete barriers to reinforce the wall that was damaged during the crash.
After a 45 minute stoppage in the race, NASCAR withdraws the red flag and displays the yellow flag as the drivers get moving again.
Some of the drivers come down pit road for service and minor repairs.
Connor Zilisch leads the race with Austin Hill in second.
After the crash, there are 23 cars on the lead lap.
Nick Sanchez gets into the tire barrier on a caution lap with an apparent failure.
Connor Zilisch brings the field down for the green flag restart with Sammy Smith alongside with four laps remaining in the race. Sammy Smith gets out in front for the lead with Sam Mayer in second. Drivers are spread out through the field.
Connor Zilisch passes to retake the lead with Sammy Smith in second; Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, and Carson Kvapil round out the top five. After making a pit stop, Justin Allgaier is up to sixth place.
Sam Mayer passes Sammy Smith for second.
With a lead of nearly two seconds, Connor Zilisch takes the white flag.
Connor Zilisch wins the race for his sixth win of the season!
The unofficial results of the Mission 200 at the Glen:
Connor Zilisch
Sam Mayer
Sammy Smith
Austin Hill
Carson Kvapil
Justin Allgaier
Austin Green
Christian Eckes
Brandon Jones
Harrison Burton
Kaz Grala
Brennan Poolel
Dean Thompson
Jesse Love
Jeremy Clements
Jeb Burton
Daniel Dye
Taylor Gray
Stefan Parsons
Austin J Hill
Glen Reen
Parker Retzlaff
Blaine Perkins
Blaine Perkins
Nick Sanchez
Michael McDowell
William Sawalich
Josh Bilicki
Ryan Sieg
Ryan Ellis
Kyle Sieg
Shane van Gisbergen
Anthony Alfredo
Matt DiBenedetto
Sheldon Creed
Preston Pardus
Riley Herbst
Thomas Annunziata
Garrett Smithley