Race Lineup : Watkins Glen International

• Thursday, August 7th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Déjà Vroom? Zilisch Eyes Repeat at Glen Where It All Began

It’s a highly-anticipated trip to upstate New York for 19-year-old JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch. He returns to Watkins Glen International as the defending winner of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Mission 200 at The Glen (3 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – claiming the very first NASCAR victory of his career in his first ever NASCAR national series start there last summer.

The driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet boasts a series-best five wins in his first fulltime season and is tied with his teammate, reigning series champ Justin Allgaier atop the championship standings at 772 points each. Their JR Motorsports team has won all four road course events this season – with three different drivers, including Zilisch who won at Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway.

Sam Mayer, 22, delivered the Haas Factory Team its first victory last week at Iowa Speedway and has earned four of his eight career series trophies on road courses, including Watkins Glen in 2023. He’s only 16 points behind the JR Motorsports teammates Zilisch and Allgaier atop the standings.

With three races remaining to set the 12-driver Playoff field, eight drivers have now secured automatic shots at the big trophy via victory. With Mayer’s win, JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil now holds the top transfer position based on points – he’s 93 points above the Playoff cutoff line – but Mayer’s teammate Sheldon Creed is only 11 points off that mark.

Harrison Burton still holds onto the last points transfer spot with a 17-point margin over Ryan Sieg, and is 19-points up on his cousin Jeb Burton.

Of note, Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill – a two-time winner on the season – returns to competition after serving a one-race suspension last week. But if granted a Playoff waiver (as expected) he will not be able to take any Playoff points into the championship hunt.

The New Zealander van Gisbergen will drive the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in his third Xfinity Series start of the year. He has three road course wins in the NASCAR Cup Series already in 2025 in addition to his Chicago win-from-pole in the Xfinity Series. A win at Watkins Glen would tie Van Gisbergen with Australian Marcos Ambrose for most victories (five) in the series by a foreign-born driver. He and his young teammate Zilisch have won seven of the last nine road course races.

• Watkins Glen International
• Mission 200 At The Glen
• Pole Winner: Connor Zilisch
• Age: 19
• Team : No 88 - Registix Chevrolet
• Owner: Dale Earnhardt, Jr
• Crew Chief: Mardy Lindley
• Connor Zilisch won the Pole Award for the Mission 200 At The Glen with a lap of 70884 seconds, 124429 mph
• This is his sixth pole in 26 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his fifth pole and 18th top-10 start in 2025
• This is his second pole in two races at Watkins Glen International
• Shane Van Gisbergen (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2025 and his first in two races at Watkins Glen International
• Taylor Gray (third) posted his first top-10 start at Watkins Glen International It is his 14th in 23 races this season
• Connor Zilisch (first) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 85
• Laps Actual: 82 - Race Shortened
• Margin of Victory: 02.326 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 26 Minutes 49 Seconds
• Average Speed: 82.102
• Cautions: 7 for 20 laps
• Lead Changes: 17
• Green Flag Passes: 1,538 (24.8 passes per green flag lap)

• Watkins Glen International
• Mission 200 At The Glen
• Race Winner: Connor Zilisch
• Age: 19
• Team : No 88 - Registix Chevrolet
• Owner: Dale Earnhardt, Jr
• Crew Chief: Mardy Lindley
• Connor Zilisch won the Mission 200 At The Glen, his seventh victory in 26 Xfinity Series races
• This is his sixth victory and 14th top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his second victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Watkins Glen International
• Sam Mayer (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Watkins Glen International It is his 14th top-10 finish in 2025
• Sammy Smith (third) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at Watkins Glen International
• Connor Zilisch (first) was the highest finishing rookie
• Connor Zilisch leads the point standings by 7 points over Justin Allgaier