Denny Hamlin assigns blame in Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen Xfinity wreck at Watkins Glen

Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen unsurprisingly had the two best cars in this past Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International. It was only a matter of time before the JR Motorsports/Trackhouse Racing teammates would find each other on the racetrack late in the race.

Van Gisbergen’s run came to an end with 18 laps remaining. Doing everything he could to stay in the lead, van Gisbergen got tagged by Zilisch entering Turn 6. His No. 9 Chevrolet slammed into the wall sideways.

Denny Hamlin said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that he felt it was van Gisbergen’s own fault that he ended up in the wall. He explained that Zilisch simply held his ground after van Gisbergen forced him wide coming out of Turn 5.

“The car that wrecked, it was their fault. He didn’t give Connor any room to get back on the racetrack,” Hamlin said. “Connor’s spotter was like, ‘He’s outside, now he’s inside.’ So, it’s the same thing — you run him wide there, you gotta give him room to get back on the racetrack. You can’t expect the guy to lift for you and then get back behind you. I think Connor held his ground and unfortunately, SVG was on the receiving end of it.

“I would liked to have seen it play out, but the 9 [van Gisbergen] was a sitting duck. He was not going to win the race. The 88 [Zilisch] at the time was so much faster than him.”

😱😱😱😱😱😱@ConnorZilisch overdrives the turn and makes contact with leader @shanevg97, who takes severe damage after hitting the wall. pic.twitter.com/1ZulRxfMT0

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) August 9, 2025

Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen went to battle at Watkins Glen

Zilisch saw it the same way. He didn’t think van Gisbergen left him any room.

“I don’t know what I could have done differently,” Zilisch said on his radio. “He didn’t leave me any room to rejoin. “He spun off my nose… I think he thought I was clear.”

Zilisch raced on to pick up his series leading sixth checkered flag of the season. He entered the race tied with teammate Justin Allgaier in the points standings, and left with a seven-point advantage.

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, was gutted after the race. He did make up for it 24 hours later, dusting the field to win his fourth Cup Series race of the season.