Saturday’s (Aug. 9) NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International was shaping up to be yet another classic road course battle between Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch until a collision between the two on lap 64 sent van Gisbergen hard into the outside wall and out of the race.
Zilisch led 47 of the first 53 laps on Saturday, but a timely mid-race caution allowed van Gisbergen to retake the lead. Zilisch had climbed from ninth to second shortly after the restart, and he was glued to the back bumper of van Gisbergen for multiple laps in an effort to get by.
With about 20 laps to go, third place Austin Hill had caught the lead duo, and it wasn’t long after that Zilisch made his move to the outside of van Gisbergen entering turn 6.
Van Gisbergen held a slight lead entering turn 7, but he was spun after Zilisch hit the right rear of the No. 9 car while attempting to rejoin the racing groove.
“Pretty gutted, really,” van Gisbergen told The CW. “Gutted for the JR Motorsports guys. Our car wasn’t great, but we still managed to get ourselves in a good position. …
“I haven’t seen (the replay) yet, so I’ll watch it later and work it out, but I don’t know yet.”
Zilisch continued on with minor left front damage, while van Gisbergen limped his wounded car to the garage for a 31st-place finish.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf