Connor Zilisch Edges van Gisbergen in Thrilling Xfinity Win on the Hill
Connor Zilisch fought off JR Motorsports teammate Shane van Gisbergen in the final two laps to win his third NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season and fourth of his career.
From start to finish, Zilisch and van Gisbergen, the pole winner, combined to lead 70 of the 79 laps, only giving up the lead when they short-pitted the first and second stages to regain track position during the stage breaks.
Zilisch's triumph was retaliation for last Saturday's Xfinity race at the Chicago Street Course, where the 36-year-old van Gisbergen drove his 18-year-old teammate wide in Turn 2 to capture the lead and win a two-lap shootout for the win.
But this time, Zilisch survived contact from van Gisbergen's front bumper in Turn 7 on the final lap and won the race to the finish line, as the New Zealander failed in a last-ditch attempt to jump over to the inside in hairpin Turn 11.
Zilisch took off at the bend and won the sprint to the finish line by 0.438 seconds.
"First, hats off to Shane," Zilisch stated as he climbed out of his car. "That was great. Throughout the race, I felt like we were racing one another with respect. I wheel-hopped briefly in Turn 7 and collided with him. Otherwise, it was great to finally compete against him and combat him throughout the race."
Both Zilisch and van Gisbergen were able to move away from the rest of the pack while saving fuel in the last stage.
"We're going to race each other at Watkins Glen, and that's one of my favorite tracks, so I hope I can beat him again there."
Van Gisbergen saw an opening when his No. 9 Chevrolet collided with Zilisch's No. 88 in Turn 7, but he backed off to let the race play out.
"I gave him a bump into 7, and he wheel-hopped, and I probably could have taken it, but I just waited," said van Gisbergen, the defending race champion. "I didn't want to do it like that, so we raced down the hill. What a great race.
"I had a blast all day — fun."
Zilisch led 46 laps to van Gisbergen's 24, who was attempting to win his third NASCAR race in a row after sweeping Chicago the previous weekend.
Solid effort on pit road gave Zilisch control of the race for the last restart on Lap 51, and he led the rest of the way, fending off SVG's continuous attempts to force him into a mistake.
William Sawalich, who won Friday's ARCA West race in an exciting finale, was the best of the rest, finishing third, 13.668 seconds behind Zilisch. Nick Sanchez took fourth place, followed by Cup regular Riley Herbst, series leader Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Carson Kvapil, Sammy Smith, and Sheldon Creed.
JR Motorsports now has five drivers in the top nine, including Allgaier, Kvapil, and Smith, in addition to Zilisch and van Gisbergen. The win was the organization's tenth in 19 races this season, and Zilisch tied Allgaier and Austin Hill for the series lead with three victories.
"I didn't want to have to have to do anything dirty to win this race, and I'm glad I didn't and glad to do it fair and square," Zilisch told the crowd. "I learned a lot racing around him, and he's got so many years of experience on me that I can learn from."
The Xfinity Series will race at Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware next Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ryan Truex is in the field for Sam Hunt Racing, where he hopes to win three consecutive races on the one-mile concrete circuit.