Connor Zilisch led nearly the entire final 34 laps of the General Tire 100 at The Glen, but a pass from Jesse Love on the final turn gave Love his eighth victory of the ARCA Menards Series season Friday night at Watkins Glen International.
Love, 18, chased down Zilisch, 17, after Zilisch regained the lead in Turn 1 on a restart on the final lap. Love nudged the back of Zilisch’s car high into Turn 7 and overtook him in the middle of the track to earn his fourth consecutive victory.
Jack Wood’s crash in Turn 1 with five laps to go brought out a caution flag. With a light rain falling and darkness approaching, most drivers came in for rain tires.
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Kris Wright remained on slicks to move to the front but couldn’t hold off Zilisch in Turn 1, who in turn could not hold off Love over the final 2 miles after Love began the last lap in fourth.
Love described himself as “a blind dog drinking a smoothie on a road course” in the No. 20 JBL Toyota for much of the race, but he said he gradually became more comfortable. Before the final restart, nerves got to Love and he became physically ill in the car.
Love described his relationship with Zilisch to a brotherhood and said there was no way he would wreck him.
“First off, hats off to Connor Zilisch,” said Love, who is from Menlo Park, California. “I hope he doesn’t think it was dirty. It was borderline. Obviously, I had to do something. I feel like he left the door open for me to do something.”
Zilisch, who maintained the lead over the final half of the race despite a loose sway bar that led to sparking at times from under the car, said Love did what he had to do.
This was the first ARCA Menards Series race for Zilisch, who hails from Mooresville, North Carolina, and is part of the Chevrolet junior drivers program. He was driving for Pinnacle Racing Group and said he’ll use the race as a learning experience.
“It’s so frustrating. You lead that many laps…
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