Connor Zilisch wins NASCAR O'Reilly Series race at Watkins Glen

NASCAR Cup Series driver Connor Zilisch (88) during the 68th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Connor Zilisch wins NASCAR O'Reilly Series race at Watkins Glen with last-lap pass on Jesse Love

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated May 9, 2026 6:48 PM ET

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Connor Zilisch made just enough mistakes to make the run to the finish in Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen one for the ages.

Zilisch fell nearly three seconds behind leader Jesse Love with less than 10 laps to go after getting loose in the bus stop, sliding through the grass and hitting the frontstretch wall, but gathered himself and his No. 1 Chevrolet back up and mounted a furious charge to catch Love.

On the final lap, Zilisch got close enough to force Love into a mistake. Love locked up the brakes and went wide in turn 7, allowing Zilisch to scoot by and win the NOAPS race at Watkins Glen for the third straight year.

The win is the 13th of Zilisch's O'Reilly Series career and his second of 2026. Zilisch finished second in Friday's Truck race and will start fifth in Sunday's Cup race.

CONNOR ZILISCH WINS AT WATKINS GLEN IN AN INCREDIBLE LAST-LAP BATTLE! pic.twitter.com/ULRAq0skcS
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) May 9, 2026

Love, the defending series champion, is still winless through 13 races in 2026.

Notable results

Love finished runner-up, with Taylor Gray, Ross Chastain and Brandon Jones rounding out the top five. Brent Crews, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Green and Justin Allgaier completed the top 10.

Other notable finishers include Austin Hill in 11th, polesitter Rajah Caruth in 12th, Sam Mayer in 13th, Corey Day in 15th and Sheldon Creed in 29th.

Allgaier leads Creed by 155 points in the series standings going into the 14th race of the season at Dover Motor Speedway on May 16.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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