Kiwi star Shane van Gisbergen fought back from adversity to finish eighth in a dramatic NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen International, while JR Motorsports teammate Connor Zilisch stole victory in a thrilling final-lap showdown.
Van Gisbergen qualified 12th for the race, with Zilisch lining up just behind in 17th, but it did not take long for the pair to charge to the front of the field.
By Lap 25, the two JR Motorsports teammates were locked in an intense battle for the race lead, trading positions multiple times in one of the highlights of the race’s opening stages.
While Van Gisbergen and Zilisch flipped the stage strategy early by diving into pit lane, Brent Crews capitalised to claim the Stage 1 victory.
The action ramped back up at the Stage 2 restart following a caution for debris on the track, with Van Gisbergen and Zilisch once again going wheel-to-wheel with just four laps remaining in the stage.
Van Gisbergen briefly dropped back to third as Zilisch and Crews fought over the lead ahead, with Zilisch eventually holding off Crews to take the Stage 2 win.
Disaster then struck for Van Gisbergen during the pit cycle.
As the Kiwi attempted to pull out alongside Zilisch on pit road, he made contact with the rear of his teammate’s car, damaging the left-front fender of his Chevrolet. The damage forced Van Gisbergen to pit again, dropping him down the order for the restart.
With 38 laps remaining, Crews and Jesse Love led the field back to green, while Van Gisbergen restarted all the way down in 17th. Zilisch resumed from 12th.
Van Gisbergen immediately went into attack mode.
With 26 laps remaining, the Kiwi had stormed his way back into the top five, muscling through the field with aggressive overtakes as Zilisch ran second behind Crews.
Crews, running older tyres, eventually peeled into pit lane for his final stop, handing the lead to Zilisch. Brandon Jones sat between the two JR Motorsports cars, with Van Gisbergen now up to third.
When Zilisch and Jones made their stops, Van Gisbergen inherited the race lead with 21 laps to go, but the Kiwi still needed to complete his final stop.
One lap later, Van Gisbergen pitted, but the stop quickly unravelled as the crew struggled to work around the damaged left-front fender while changing tyres. The lengthy stop proved costly, dropping him back to 23rd for the restart.
Once again, Van Gisbergen charged through the field in an attempt to salvage his race.
With seven laps remaining, Zilisch had climbed into second place and was chasing Love, who held a 3.7-second advantage. Van Gisbergen had recovered to 12th but sat more than 23 seconds behind the race lead with time quickly running out.
The race took another twist when Zilisch clipped the grass and kerb exiting the bus stop chicane, damaging the front splitter of his car. The splitter tucked underneath the tyre, causing tyre rub and affecting the steering, before Zilisch brushed the wall just a few corners later.
Despite the damage, Zilisch refused to back off.
With three laps remaining, he continued to close in on Love, reducing the gap to just 1.3 seconds.
On the final lap, Zilisch was right on Love’s rear bumper heading into the closing corners. Love ran wide at the final turn, opening the door for Zilisch to dive to the inside.
The pair drag-raced to the finish line, with Zilisch edging ahead to secure a dramatic victory at Watkins Glen — the 13th NASCAR win of his career.
Van Gisbergen crossed the line in eighth place, 21 seconds behind his teammate, with the costly slow pit stop ultimately ending his hopes of fighting for the win.
The Kiwi now turns his attention to the NASCAR Cup Series, where he will start from pole position for his third and final race of the weekend. The race is scheduled for Monday at 7:00am NZST.
Header Image: JR Motorsports
