WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — It’s a highly-anticipated journey to upstate New York for 19-year-old JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch.
He returns to Watkins Glen Worldwide because the defending winner of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Collection Mission 200 at The Glen — claiming the very first NASCAR victory of his profession in his first NASCAR nationwide sequence begin there final summer season.
The driving force of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet boasts a series-best 5 wins in his first fulltime season and is tied together with his teammate, reigning sequence champ Justin Allgaier atop the championship standings at 772 factors every.
Their JR Motorsports workforce has gained all 4 street course occasions this season – with three completely different drivers, together with Zilisch who gained at Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway.
Sam Mayer, 22, delivered the Haas Manufacturing unit Workforce its first victory final week at Iowa Speedway and has earned 4 of his eight profession sequence trophies on street programs, together with Watkins Glen in 2023. He’s solely 16 factors behind the JR Motorsports teammates Zilisch and Allgaier atop the standings.
With three races remaining to set the 12-driver Playoff subject, eight drivers have now secured computerized pictures on the large trophy through victory. With Mayer’s win, JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil now holds the highest switch place primarily based on factors – he’s 93 factors above the Playoff cutoff line – however Mayer’s teammate Sheldon Creed is simply 11 factors off that mark.
Harrison Burton nonetheless holds onto the final factors switch spot with a 17-point margin over Ryan Sieg, and is 19-points up on his cousin Jeb Burton.
Of be aware, Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill – a two-time winner on the season – returns to competitors after serving a one-race suspension final week. But when granted a Playoff waiver (as anticipated) he won’t be able to take any Playoff factors into the championship hunt.
The New Zealander van Gisbergen will drive the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in his third Xfinity Collection begin of the yr. He has three street course wins within the NASCAR Cup Collection already in 2025 along with his Chicago win-from-pole within the Xfinity Collection.
A win at Watkins Glen would tie Van Gisbergen with Australian Marcos Ambrose for many victories (5) within the sequence by a foreign-born driver. He and his younger teammate Zilisch have gained seven of the final 9 street course races.
