XFINITY: Connor Zilisch Obliterates Field in Watkins Glen Qualifying

Connor Zilisch will lead the NASCAR Xfinity Series field to green in Saturday’s Mission 200 at Watkins Glen International after posting the quickest time in qualifying for the third-to-last road course event of the season… and it wasn’t even close.

Zilisch laid down a ridiculous lap time in the No. 88 Registix Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, getting around the 2.45-mile road course in 70.884 seconds (124.429mph). While the lap wasn’t a track record, it was far and away the best lap of the afternoon, beating his closest rival Shane Van Gisbergen by 0.562 seconds.

It’s the sixth career NASCAR Xfinity Series pole for the Mooresville, North Carolina-native, five of which have come this season. Last September, while making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at the New York road course, Zilisch won the race from the pole position – the first driver to win from the pole in their series debut.

“I feel like it’s going to come closer in the race, so I’m not going to get too ahead of myself, but obviously we have a fast Registix Chevrolet,” Zilisch said after qualifying. “I’m super proud of this entire team and the work they’ve put in lately. It takes a lot to beat the field by over half a second at one of these tracks, and I couldn’t do it without the car that’s underneath me. So, big thank you to JR Motorsports. Looking forward to the race later today, yeah, it’s going to be a good one.”

STARTING LINEUP: Mission 200 at Watkins Glen

Shane Van Gisbergen, starting in second-place, looks poised to continue the battle that has been raging on between himself and Zilisch all Summer on the road courses. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet did have a slight issue in practice while racing Sam Mayer, making contact and spinning the both of them around in Turn 1 – while also collecting Christian Eckes in the process.

Taylor Gray will start from the third position, as the Joe Gibbs Racing rookie continues to show his road course prowess coming off of a runner-up result at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in June. Sam Mayer, last weekend’s winner, will start fourth with William Sawalich rounding out the top-five.

Sammy Smith made a major improvement in the road course department this weekend at Watkins Glen, qualifying his No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet in sixth-place. Nick Sanchez will roll from seventh, with Kaz Grala putting together a really solid performance for Sam Hunt Racing in eighth.

Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill completed the top-10 in qualifying.

Other notable drivers starting outside the top-10 include Sheldon Creed (11th), Michael McDowell (12th), Brandon Jones (13th), Carson Kvapil (14th), Jesse Love (15th), and Riley Herbst (16th). Christian Eckes, fighting for a spot in the Playoffs, will roll from 36th after an incident in practice.

The Mission 200 will take place on Saturday, August 9 at 3:00 pm ET on The CW.