By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

WATKINS GLEN, NY (May 9, 2026) —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.

The victory was Zilisch’s third straight at the 2.45-mile road course in as many starts, his second in his fifth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start of the season and the 13th of his career.

Zilisch, Terry Labonte and Marcos Ambrose are the only drivers with three consecutive O’Reilly Series victories at Watkins Glen.

For the 70th straight race, JR Motorsports put at least one car in the top 10, nine short of RFK Racing’s record (2008-2010). JRM also collected its 11th straight road course victory.

The victory was the product of Zilisch’s relentless pursuit of Love, who pitted on Lap 48 of 72 and saved fuel the rest of the way, with Zilisch—from 18 seconds back—chopping full seconds per lap off Love’s lead over the final 25 circuits.

With six laps left, however, Zilisch hit the grass as he sped through the Bus stop chicane and damaged the undercarriage of his car. Adjusting to the altered feel of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Zilisch continued his pursuit and closed on his friend.

On the final lap, Zilisch made up significant ground through the Bus Stop and took advantage when Love ran wide through the final corner.

“That was driving as hard as I could for all 30 of those laps (from a restart on lap 51), just trying to make up that gap,” Zilisch said. “I wasn’t going to move Jesse in the last corner there, but he got in deep, and I was able to get by”.

“It’s so cool to come back and get my third win at Watkins Glen in a row with JRM. Cool to get it with Rodney (Childers). He’s my third different crew chief here.”

This was the second significant battle between Zilisch and Love in the last six months. At Phoenix Raceway in November, Love outdueled the heavily favored Zilisch to win the series championship.

On Saturday, it was Love who was disconsolate.

“At the end of the day, the glaring piece of it is I had a bad corner,” Love said. “It was definitely a challenging but good experience for me. I’ve never saved fuel on a road course. What a good mental challenge for me.

“All I want to do is beat Connor here (on a road course), right? We’re best friends, and we’ve caused each other a lot of pain. I didn’t execute when I needed to. I think the reason I’m so quiet is I’m just embarrassed, right? As a driver, you just can’t make those mistakes.”

As a measure of the friendship between the two drivers, the first person to Love’s car after the race who Zilisch’s mother, who gave Love a consoling hug.

Taylor Gray and Ross Chastain finished third and fourth, respectively, both on fuel-saving strategy. Brandon Jones was fifth, followed by rookie Brent Crews, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Green and Justin Allgaier, whose series lead over second place Sheldon Creed (29th Saturday) grew to 155 points.

van Gisbergen was in the mix for the win before contact between his car and Zilisch’s on pit road tore the left front fender on Zilisch’s No. 9 JRM Chevrolet. van Gisbergen had to pit again for repairs, his winning chances gone.

Crews led a race-high 32 laps, followed by Zilisch with 20 and Love with 18.

After the victory, Zilisch climbed from his care with utmost care, determined not to repeat the fall from the window ledge that cost him a broken collarbone last year.

“It really means a lot to get another one here and get out of the car safely and get onto the ground without killing myself,” Zilisch quipped.

Zilisch and van Gisbergen will race as Trackhouse Racing teammates in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, with the New Zealander on the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series event (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

WATKINS GLEN, NY (May 8, 2026) – Kris Wright and the McAnally Hilgemann Racing team are leaving Watkins Glen with a finish not reflective of their determination and fight after being scored in 29th place.

Wright and the No. 81 Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Chevrolet were poised for one of their best finishes of the year sitting in 13th place following a late race caution.

“Our pit crew was on it today when we really needed the track position and they played a huge role in us restarting 13th there with less than 10 to go,” said Wright.

When the race restarted with 9-laps to go and the field charging into turn one, contact up ahead had drivers scrambling to avoid the mayhem and in the melee Wright was sent up the track into the tire barriers, ending their race.  The No. 81 AHN team was credited with a 29th place finish.

“I can’t thank this AHN team enough for all of their hard work today,” said Wright. “This result hurts, but our road course stuff is good and we’re even more excited to get out to our next road course at San Diego.”

Wright started the race from the rear of the field (34th) due to a flat spotted tire during qualifying, where he posted the 26th fastest time.

Wright methodically worked his way up through field during the races first stage to finish 22nd, showing the speed in the No. 81 Silverado.

The races second stage saw Wright race into the top 20 when contact from another truck on lap 33 sent the No. 81 into spin cycle.  The incident caused damage to the left rear but Wright recovered and raced back to 22nd by the end of the stage.

The exemplary pit crew work during the races final stage enabled Wright to gain 13-positions on pit road and work his way into the top 15 as several trucks gambled on fuel.

Unfortunately all of the hard work on pit road and in behind the wheel came to an end on that restart with nine laps-to-go.

Kaden Honeycutt picked up the win, which was his first career victory.

By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service

WATKINS GLEN, NY (May 8, 2026) —A week after chastising himself at Texas for repeated failure to win NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, Kaden Honeycutt pulled off his first career victory over the two drivers who have dominated NASCAR road courses over the past two years.

Honeycutt grabbed the lead from Connor Zilisch through tight Turn 1 on the first lap of overtime and pulled away for his first victory in the series in Friday’s Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen.

A few hours earlier, Honeycutt had won the ARCA Menards Series race on the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International circuit. With the Truck Series win, he became the second driver to win both an ARCA race and Truck Series event on the same day, joining Sam Mayer (2020 at Bristol) in that distinction.

“It’s just amazing,” said Honeycutt, who got to the finish line 0.902 second ahead of Zilisch. “I can’t believe I just won on a road course. It’s just unbelievable.”

Honeycutt proceeded to shotgun a beer beneath the flag stand, reveling in the liquid pouring across his face.

The victory was no easy accomplishment for the driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, which went to Victory Lane last year at The Glen with Corey Heim behind the wheel.

Honeycutt drew a penalty near the end of the second stage for pitting when pit road was closed and was forced to restart the final 32-lap stage from the rear of the field. A series of cautions and restart violations by both Ross Chastain and Gio Ruggiero, however, helped Honeycutt on his march back to the front.

Ruggiero’s infraction while leading on Lap 69 put Honeycutt on the front row next to then-leader Zilisch for the overtime restart. Zilisch chose the outside lane for the two-lap shootout but lost the top spot to Honeycutt as they navigated the right-hand first turn.

“On the restart, I think Zilisch missed a shift a little bit coming off of (Turn) 7, and I was tight to him,” Honeycutt said. “The only option I had… we were three-wide going into (Turn) 1, and I barely got to his right rear and touched him a little bit.
“It was just enough to scoot by him. As soon as I got the lead, I pulled my visor up, and I was full-blown focused after that.”

After the race, Zilisch rued his lane choice for the overtime.

“It was just an unfortunate way to end that race,” said Zilisch, who was denied his first Truck Series victory in his ninth start. “I chose the top, hoping we could get through there without making contact. I knew that the bottom would be better if that happened, but I didn’t want to be that guy.

“Yeah, I just wish I could go back and re-do it and pick the inside, but we’ve got two more races this weekend (O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Cup Series). I appreciate Spire Motorsports for giving me a really fast truck.”

Five-time 2025 NASCAR Cup Series road course winner Shane van Gisbergen finished third, thanks to the New Zealander’s ability to pick off cars during the series of late restarts.

Daniel Hemric was fourth and Chandler Smith fifth, followed by Ram Free Agent driver AJ Allmendinger, pole winner Brent Crews, Mini Tyrrell, Brenden Queen and Connor Mosack. The race marked the first time multiple Ram drivers (Allmendinger, Tyrrell and Queen) finished in the top 10 in the brand’s return to NASCAR racing this year.

Honeycutt led only the two overtime laps. Zilisch led a race-high 28 laps and won the second stage. Crews led 17 laps from the start (19 overall) before pitting and handing the stage win to Daniel Hemric.

Honeycutt leaves The Glen with the series lead by 29 points over Smith.

Chastain held the lead over Zilisch for a restart with eight laps left in regulation but powered his Niece Motorsports Chevrolet before he reached the restart zone.

“What?!” exclaimed Chastain over his radio. “You can’t get a penalty when you’re the control car.”

Video, however, showed the car launching early. Sent to the back, Chastain fell victim to a wreck in Turn 5 on Lap 70 and finished 28th. That incident forced the overtime.

Connor Hocevar, last week’s Truck Series race winner at Texas, ran in the top 10 for most of the afternoon before checking up on a Lap 62 restart and nosing into the inside frontstretch wall off Allmendinger’s bumper.

“I’m sure AJ didn’t plan on me lifting,” said Hocevar, who will race in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Go Bowing at the Glen on Sunday. “I just enjoyed getting my butt kicked by the teenagers.”

Hocevar is 23 years old.