"No respect": Connor Zilisch’s crew chief slams NASCAR drivers for "embarrassing" racing at Watkins Glen

Connor Zilisch bagged the Xfinity Series win on his debut attempt at Watkins Glen, becoming the seventh driver to do so. However, his crew chief, Andrew Overstreet, was unhappy with how NASCAR drivers raced on the road course and called them out for being unprofessional on the asphalt.

The 18-year-old dominated 45 of the 90-lap Mission 200 at the Glen race. Zilisch clocked the fastest speed in the qualifying, etched the Stage 1 win, came third in the second stage, and survived two overtime restarts to register his first Xfinity Series win.

With that, the JR Motorsports driver became the first in the history of the NASCAR National Series to have won both the pole and the race on his maiden attempt. However, Overstreet wasn't pleased with the NASCAR drivers ending the race and the overtime restarts in a chaotic manner.

After the motorsports prodigy propelled his #88 Chevy to the victory lane, his crew chief lambasted the drivers' unprofessionalism on the team radio. Jeff Gluck shared Overstreet's dismay on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

Connor Zilisch crew chief Andrew Overstreet on radio: "This is embarrasing the way we end these races nowadays. There's just no respect among any of these drivers. ... Be professional." Gluck wrote.

The first overtime restart witnessed Brandon Jones spinning out and collecting Mike Skeen, while in the second overtime restart, Cole Custer spun out in Turn 7. A carnage erupted in the final lap, but Connor Zilisch braved through the chaos.

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"I don’t have words right now": Connor Zilisch reflects on his career-first Xfinity Series triumph

Zilisch entered the NASCAR scene this year as a 17-year-old driver. Thus, he couldn't participate full-time in the three series: Truck, Xfinity, and the Cup. He started his part-time Truck Series schedule for Spire Motorsports in alliance with Trackhouse Racing at the Circuit of the Americas. After bagging the pole at COTA, the Californian finished fourth in the race.

Watkins Glen was the first Xfinity battle of Connor Zilisch's four-race schedule. With just two laps until the checkered flag dropped, Zilisch's Chevy sputtered being low on fuel and he was saving fuel while dominating the field. The final lap chaos promoted a yellow and the drivers reduced their pace. Sheldon Creed caught up with the JRM rival and ran second under yellow.

Zilisch had enough gas in the tank to make it through the final lap. After registering his Xfinity Series win, the 18-year-old shared his emotions. He said (via NASCAR on NBC on X).

"I worked so hard for this one. I’ve been working on this one for months. It’s so special to me man, I don’t have words right now. I don’t know how I saved enough. I sputtered up the hill with two to go, I didn’t think I was going to make it back to the line. I was saving the last two laps, I’m going to enjoy this one for a while," Zilisch said.

Connor Zilisch will be next seen at the Kansas Speedway on September 28, Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 26, and Phoenix Raceway on November 9. He will mark his rookie Xfinity season for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JRM next year.