Connor Zilisch breaks down moments leading to Shane van Gisbergen contact, wreck at Watkins Glen

The pivotal moment in this past Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International came with 18 laps remaining. Doing everything he could to stay in the lead, Shane van Gisbergen got tagged by Connor Zilisch entering Turn 6. His No. 9 Chevrolet slammed into the wall sideways.

Just like that, van Gisbergen’s race was over. Zilisch, who continued on to win his series leading sixth race of the season, said on Monday’s “Door Bumper Clear” podcast that he did not wreck his JR Motorsports/Trackhouse Racing teammate on purpose. Zilisch thought van Gisbergen would leave him more room coming out of the corner.

“I did not do that on purpose,” Zilisch said. “If I wanted to wreck him, I had 10 laps before [to do it]. I was doing literally everything in my power to try to pass him without touching him. I was doing everything I could, sliding him up in the brake zones trying to force him to make a mistake and he’s just so hard to force into a mistake.

“So, I got alongside him going into [Turn] 6 the second to last corner, went a little deep and went wide. I was coming back onto the track, and he’s just going dead straight and I expected him to open up the corner a little bit to give me room to reenter. In hindsight, my only option not to wreck him was to lift and I expected to have more space coming onto the track in which I didn’t.”

Connor Zilisch opens up about contact with Shane van Gisbergen at Watkins Glen

Van Gisbergen was gutted after the race: “Not ideal. Pretty gutted, really. Gutted for the JR Motorsports guys. Our car wasn’t great, but we still managed to get ourselves in position and looked great. Pretty average way to end it.”

Van Gisbergen was doing everything in his power to keep Zilisch behind him. Zilisch had the faster car and in all likelihood, would have drove away from van Gisbergen if he got by him.

“Yeah, I wish I would have lifted and gone back after him, but I also wish I could have had some more space too,” Zilisch said. “It was just we were fighting for the same spot and he knew that as soon as I got the lead, I had the better car and I was gonna drive away and win the race. I understand his point, he was doing everything he could to keep me behind him.

“From my point of view, I was trying to pass him for seven or eight laps really clean and he was being really aggressive blocking me. That was my best shot I’d had so far to get by him, and yeah, we met at the same spot.”