Who doesn’t Love Talladega Superspeedway? The high-speed, exciting speedway is where Jesse Love took home his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career win this past weekend after clinching the checkered in the AG Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Rookie and 19-year-old Jesse Love flew past the competition in this nail-biting, double overtime ending that had him flashing back to the Atlanta race earlier this season. The race was as chaotic as expected in Talladega and resulted in a double overtime that allowed Love to take the lead. Multi-car wrecks led to caution flags in the final laps and cars were struggling to hold on. As everyone was pulling into Pit Road to refuel, Love and his crew chief, Danny Stockman, made the bold choice to hold off and instead pulled ahead for overtime. A plan that backfired earlier in the season in Atlanta, where Love ran out of fuel while in first place and finished in 12th.
Atlanta was the definition of “living and learning” as the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet team perfected this technique and secured the first win for the car since Myatt Snider’s Homestead win in 2021. Throughout overtime Love managed to block multiple lanes to maintain his first-place position. Just before crossing the finish line a battle ensued between Love and Brennan Poole as Poole tried to maneuver around Love, but Love quickly sped ahead, as Poole fell to fifth and Love took home the checkered flag by 0.141 seconds.
“Let’s go playoff racing,” Love exclaimed to his crew as he crossed the finish line and shared his excitement with his team.
Love started the race off in second on the front row, beside teammate Austin Hill who started on the pole. This weekend was especially unique for the No. 2 Chevrolet team with a special paint scheme featuring Whelen Engineering’s Aerospace company, Whelen Aerospace Technologies (WAT). Love managed to stay in the top-five for a majority of the race after finishing Stage One in first place and leading for 28 laps. This win officially punched Love’s ticket to the NASCAR Playoffs and pushed him into fourth place overall in the point standings for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. This win is the first NASCAR Xfinity Series Talladega win for Richard Childress Racing since Tyler Reddick won in the No. 2 car in 2019.
“We fought hard for this one,” Love said after the race, “Talladega Superspeedway is my favorite racetrack, so to get my first NASCAR Xfinity Series win here is special.”
On top of winning his first race and securing a playoff spot, Love is also competing in the final Xfinity Series Dash4Cash race this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway where he will battle to take home $100,000.
NASCAR Xfinity Series action will begin with practice and qualifying on Friday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, followed by Saturday’s race at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Make sure to tune-in and watch Love as he battles it out for the race within the race.
