RCR NOAPS Race Recap: Watkins Glen International

Jesse Love and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team Lead Laps at Watkins Glen International Before Heart-Breaking Last Lap Pass Results in Runner-Up Finish

Finish: 2nd
Start: 8th
Points: 3rd

“There’s a hundred small mistakes that let him [Connor Zilisch] get close to our Whelen Chevrolet and at the end of the day, the glaring piece of it is I had a bad corner. It was definitely challenging, but, you know good experience for me. I’ve never saved fuel before on a road course. All I want to do is beat Connor here, right? We’re best friends and we’ve caused each other a lot of pain. I didn’t execute when I needed to, and I think the reason I’m so quiet is I’m just embarrassed. As a driver, you can’t make those mistakes, and it was such a bad mistake, it’s just embarrassing. So, I know that I’ll learn from this and be better because of it, but I let down a lot of people, including myself, most importantly, and you know, maybe it’s probably a good idea for me to feel this pain right now.” -Jesse Love

Top-Five Day for Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Team Spoiled on Last Lap at Watkins Glen International

Finish: 11th
Start: 9th
Points: 7th

“I was short shifting, running half throttle, lifting early for the brake zones, doing everything that I felt like I needed to do to be able to make it to the end on fuel. I’m kind of scratching my head right now, of what was the reason we ran out as early as we did. It was super early in the lap in Turn 3, up the esses. It ran out, then came back to life, and then it ran out again exiting the carousel. Without any of the strategy that went on, we had a solid day. I thought we had a top-five car. We probably weren’t going to win the race, but we were at least going to have a solid day. It’s just frustrating for our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet team, and everybody at RCR and ECR to have a solid top-five going today and get it stripped away by running out of fuel.” -Austin Hill

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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