WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — With a last-corner pass in a wounded car, Connor Zilisch preserved his perfect record at Watkins Glen International — at the expense of his best friend.

Running down Jesse Love after pitting with 25 laps left, Zilisch shot past Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in Turn 7 and won a drag race to the finish line to win Saturday’s Mission 200 at the Glen by 0.262 seconds.

The victory was Zilisch’s third straight at the 2.45-mile road course in as many starts, his second in his fifth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start of the season and the 13th of his career.

Zilisch, Terry Labonte and Marcos Ambrose are the only drivers with three consecutive O’Reilly Series victories at Watkins Glen.

For the 70th straight race, JR Motorsports put at least one car in the top 10 to move within nine of RFK Racing’s record (2008-10). JRM also collected its 11th straight road course victory.

The victory was the product of Zilisch’s relentless pursuit of Love, who pitted on Lap 48 of 72 and saved fuel the rest of the way. Zilisch, meanwhile, erased an 18-second deficit by chopping full seconds per lap off Love’s lead over the final 25 circuits.

With six laps left, Zilisch hit the grass as he sped through the tricky Bus Stop Chicane and damaged the undercarriage of his car. Adjusting to the altered feel of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Zilisch continued his pursuit and closed on his friend.

On the final lap, Zilisch made up significant ground through the Bus Stop and took advantage when Love ran wide through the final corner.

“That was driving as hard as I could for all 30 of those laps (from a restart on lap 51), just trying to make up that gap,” Zilisch said. “I wasn’t going to move Jesse in the last corner there, but he got in deep, and I was able to get by.”

“It’s so cool to come back and get my third win at Watkins Glen in a row with JRM. Cool to get it with Rodney (Childers). He’s my third different crew chief here.”

This was the second significant battle between Zilisch and Love in the last six months. At Phoenix Raceway in November, Love outdueled the heavily favored Zilisch to win the series championship.

On Saturday, it was Love who was disconsolate.

“At the end of the day, the glaring piece of it is I had a bad corner,” Love said. “It was definitely a challenging but good experience for me. I’ve never saved fuel on a road course. What a good mental challenge for me.

“All I want to do is beat Connor here (on a road course), right? We’re best friends, and we’ve caused each other a lot of pain. I didn’t execute when I needed to. I think the reason I’m so quiet is I’m just embarrassed, right? As a driver, you just can’t make those mistakes.”

As a measure of the friendship between the two drivers, the first person to Love’s car after the race was Zilisch’s mother as she gave Love a consoling hug.

Taylor Gray and Ross Chastain finished third and fourth, respectively, both on fuel-saving strategy. Brandon Jones was fifth, followed by rookie Brent Crews, Parker Retzlaff, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Green and Justin Allgaier, whose series lead over second place Sheldon Creed (29th Saturday) grew to 155 points.

van Gisbergen was in the mix for the win before contact between his car and Zilisch’s on pit road tore the left front fender on van Gisbergen’s No. 9 JRM Chevrolet. He had to pit again for repairs, his winning chances gone.

Crews led a race-high 32 laps, followed by Zilisch with 20 and Love with 18.

After the victory, Zilisch climbed from his care with utmost care, determined not to repeat the fall from the window ledge that cost him a broken collarbone last year.

“It really means a lot to get another one here and get out of the car safely and get onto the ground without killing myself,” Zilisch said.

Zilisch and van Gisbergen will race as Trackhouse Racing teammates in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, with the New Zealander on the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series event.

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race — Mission 200 at The Glen

Watkins Glen International

Watkins Glen, New York

Saturday, May 9, 2026

1. (17) Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 82.

2. (8) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 82.

3. (25) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 82.

4. (29) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 82.

5. (7) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 82.

6. (4) Brent Crews #, Toyota, 82.

7. (6) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 82.

8. (12) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 82.

9. (35) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 82.

10. (2) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 82.

11. (9) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 82.

12. (1) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 82.

13. (5) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 82.

14. (34) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 82.

15. (27) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 82.

16. (10) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 82.

17. (22) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 82.

18. (18) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 82.

19. (30) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 82.

20. (36) Will Rodgers, Chevrolet, 82.

21. (38) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 82.

22. (26) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 82.

23. (13) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 82.

24. (15) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 82.

25. (23) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 82.

26. (24) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, Out of Fuel, 81.

27. (20) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, Out of Fuel, 81.

28. (21) Alex Guenette, Chevrolet, 81.

29. (3) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 81.

30. (32) Glen Reen, Toyota, 81.

31. (33) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 81.

32. (31) Derek White, Chevrolet, 78.

33. (11) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 74.

34. (28) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Suspension, 72.

35. (16) Dean Thompson, Toyota, Transmission, 54.

36. (14) William Sawalich, Toyota, Engine, 15.

37. (37) Matt Wilson, Chevrolet, Accident, 5.

38. (19) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, Engine, 4.

–Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Donovan Mitchell had 35 points and 10 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the visiting Detroit Pistons 116-109 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Saturday afternoon.

The fourth-seeded Cavaliers lost the first two games of the series in Detroit but ended the contest on a 12-5 run to remain unbeaten at home this postseason. James Harden came through in the clutch, scoring seven of his 19 points in the final 90 seconds.

“He’s an all-timer,” Pistons star Cade Cunningham said of Harden. “Being an isolation scorer is what he likes doing. Guys get into a rhythm and make shots when he got comfortable.”

Game 4 is Monday in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers are 10-1 all-time in the playoffs against the Pistons.

Cunningham posted the second triple-double of his playoff career with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the top-seeded Pistons but committed eight turnovers. Two of his miscues occurred in the final 2:32 — the first when Max Strus stole his inbounds pass and scored to put the Cavaliers ahead for good at 106-104.

Harden took over from there making a jumper, tough pull-up and a 3-pointer, the latter making it 113-109 Cleveland. Cunningham had buried a 3-pointer to pull the Pistons within one before Harden’s 26-footer. Mitchell then iced the win at the foul line with three makes in the last 20 seconds.

“We found a way to defend home court,” Mitchell said. “Collectively, we rebounded and executed — and James Harden does what he does. That’s why he’s here: his scoring, rebounding and passing.”

Jarrett Allen had 18 points and Evan Mobley added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers. Mitchell scored his 1,000th career playoff point in the first quarter.

“Screw the rotations,” Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “We just had to find the five guys who can help us win. I’m usually really strict on that, but in this situation, you’ve got to put your best players on the floor.”

Tobias Harris scored 21 points and gave Detroit its final lead at 100-98 with a 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter. Duncan Robinson scored 15 points and Paul Reed had 11 points in 10 minutes off the bench, all in the second half.

“We understand that (Harden) hit some tough shots and made an impact on the game,” Harris stated. “But we can be tougher than that.”

“It’s a series, and we had a great opportunity tonight. You’ve got to give them credit. They made tough shots.”

Reed made a layup to complete a 28-10 run to begin the third for the Pistons, who grabbed a 76-74 lead behind 10 points from Cunningham. Mitchell answered with consecutive hoops as Cleveland moved back in front 83-81 going into the fourth.

The Cavaliers outscored Detroit 32-18 in the second, fueled by 11 points from Mitchell and seven from Mobley to extend their advantage to 64-48. Mitchell scored 20 points and Allen added 13 in the first half, while Cunningham and Harris had 10 apiece.

The second featured a five-point Cleveland possession that saw Harden make a 3-pointer and miss the attached free throw, but Mobley grabbed the team’s first offensive rebound for a slam. The Pistons were called for three offensive fouls in the period.

“In the first half, we got great looks and open shots,” Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.”They just did not fall for us. We’ve got to make sure we get shots on goal, so we can set our defense and make people have to work through it.”

Allen and Mitchell each scored nine points in the first as Cleveland went up 32-30 on the seventh lead change. Cunningham had six points, five rebounds and four assists for the Pistons, who jumped ahead 12-5 with Mitchell picking up two fouls in the first 2:45.

“Playing basketball in the playoffs with great teammates with great fans means the world,” Mitchell added. “We got one win, we’ve got to get another.”

–Field Level Media

Steve Kerr has agreed to a two-year contract to stay with Golden State after coaching the Warriors for the past 12 seasons, according to reports from ESPN and The Athletic.

Kerr, who made $17.5 million this season, will remain the highest-paid coach in the NBA annually, per the reports. His contract expired this offseason.

Kerr, 60, had been meeting for two weeks with Warriors controlling owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy to determine the contract terms, per the reports. ESPN reported that money was secondary to making the best basketball decision in those conversations.

Since his first season at the helm in 2014-15, Kerr has guided the franchise to four NBA titles (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022). He has a 604-353 (.631) regular-season record and 104-48 playoff mark (.684).

However, the Warriors missed the playoffs this season when they lost a play-in game against the Phoenix Suns. It is the second time in three seasons that the team didn’t make the playoff field.

Also, the Warriors were 37-45 to finish below .500 for just the second time in Kerr’s tenure.

He understood that the 111-96 loss to the Suns on April 17 might have been his last game as a coach.

“I still love coaching, but I get it,” Kerr told reporters. “These jobs all have an expiration date. There is a run that happens, and when the run ends, sometimes it’s time for new blood and new ideas.”

Kerr had said if he coaches next season, it will be with superstar guard Stephen Curry and the Warriors.

“That’s part of the equation,” he said. “I don’t want to walk away from Steph. I’m definitely not going and coaching somewhere else next year in the NBA. I would never walk away from Steph. But all this stuff has to be aligned and right. Those are all discussions that will be had.”

Before Kerr coached the Warriors to their first NBA title in 40 years in 2015, he won five as a player with the Chicago Bulls (1996-98) and San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003).

–Field Level Media