Connor Zilisch Stays Undefeated at Watkins Glen with Last Corner Pass on Love, Celebrates Safely

Zilisch Wins Watkins Glen with Last Corner PassChris Graythen - Getty Images

Connor Zilisch won his third consecutive O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen Saturday evening with the last lap pass on reigning series champion Jesse Love.

Zilisch won on debut in the then-Xfinity Series at the track in 2024. He backed it up with a win last summer that was overshadowed when he slipped and fell off the window lip of his car and fell headfirst to the concrete, resulting in a broken collarbone and surgery.

"It's so cool to come back and get my third win at Watkins Glen in a row at JRM," Zilisch said in Victory Lane. "Cool to get it with Rodney [Childers]. It's my third different crew chief here, so it really means a lot to get another one here and get out of the car safely and make it onto the ground without trying to kill myself. So yeah, it means a lot."

This was Zilisch's second win of the season in the No. 1 JRM car as the NASCAR Cup Series rookie has had a difficult start to his season in the Trackhouse Racing No. 88.

Zilisch won the second stage but it looked like his streak might end after he went off the track in the bus stop breaking his splitter in the grass with a few laps remaining.

Jesse Love, who napped the 2025 Xfinity Series championship away from Zilisch at Phoenix last year, was leading thanks to a fuel stretch in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, and he was a corner away from beating his close friend at a road course for the first time.

Instead, Love blew the final corner wide, and Zilisch took advantage.

"When you really nickel and dime it, there's a hundred little small mistakes that let him get close," Love said on his closing laps. "And at the end of the day, the glaring piece of it is, I had a bad corner. I had a bad corner."

Following his runner-up finish, Love was seemingly as upset as Zilisch was post-Phoenix, showing how important it is to beat those known as one of the best at a certain track type, in this case, Zilisch on Road Courses.