NASCAR Xfinity Series
Jesse Love concludes sophomore campaign with first Xfinity Series title
By staffreport
AVONDALE, Ariz. — From Rookie of the Year one year to title winner the next, Jesse Love is the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.
Bookending the season with victories at Daytona and Phoenix, Love wheeled the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to his first national-series championship in just his second year in Xfinity competition.
Love’s ascension to one of NASCAR’s most storied teams has been rapid but fruitful, now sitting with three series wins to his name and a championship trophy to tote home.
Just two years prior, Love was celebrating the 2023 ARCA Menards Series championship in the same media center. Asked if that same person would believe his rise so soon after, Love was brought to tears upon reflection.
“I can tell you that kid then, with a lot of confidence, was definitely a believer. There’s been versions of myself after that didn’t see that this happening. Just now it’s starting to sink in,” Love said, pausing to choke back his emotions. “I just had to push through like those hard times and just wake up every day and refuse to let that [expletive] voice in your head tell you you’re not going to get up here and just get your head down to work and outrun the pack.”
The journey to the 2025 Xfinity Series championship began 15 years ago, when Love climbed into a race car for the first time. There for every bit of it, Love said, was his father, Duke Love.
“To say that today is like a dream come true just doesn’t get the point across,” Duke Love told NASCAR.com. “All the racing dads out there, they get it, right? You’re putting these kids today in cars at 5 years old, whether it’s a go-kart or a quarter midget or a box cart, and you’re out there with them since they’re 5 years old. You’re working on the cars, you’re pushing them off, you’re loading the trailers, you’re changing the tires, you’re doing everything. And that’s a decade plus of blood, sweat and tears. …
“Those last 20 laps were the culmination of 15 years behind the wheel, all coming together in 20 laps — the experience, the lapped traffic, the holding your line, the taking care of your equipment, all of that. You can’t teach that in five years or a decade. It takes that long in order for them to get sharpened, if you will, to that level. So to have a day like today, I’ll tell you what, it makes it all worth it.”
Love’s mother, Elizabeth, was born and raised in Mexico City, spending her early life there until coming to the United States after college. To see her 20-year-old son become a champion through such an impressive performance — making the winning pass on best friend and season dominator Connor Zilisch with 25 laps to go — was overwhelming.
“We fought so hard. He works so hard every single day,” Elizabeth Love said. “And the lows are so deplorable, but the highs are just — oh my god, this feels so good. Knowing that he’s gonna get on that plane to go home tonight, knowing that he just fought like crazy and ran such a clean race, it’s just … I’m speechless.”
A key part of Love’s rapid rise in the Xfinity Series has been crew chief Danny Stockman. Stockman has a knack for teaching young drivers the ropes and guiding them to the path of success. In 2012, Stockman led Austin Dillon to Xfinity Rookie of the Year honors and a championship in 2013. A dozen years later, Stockman has done it all over again with Love.
“Danny’s like a brother to me,” Love said. “I feel like we’re friends first and then crew-chief/driver second. I’ve had that a couple of times in my life. But yeah, Danny’s great, man. The grit and the tenacity are his two biggest traits, and he expects a lot out of me, sometimes more than I can give it from time to time. Danny’s pushed me to be a lot better.
“We’ve had really hard conversations and yelled and screamed and cussed and this and that and everything, and said things and told each other things when we both didn’t want to hear it, but we knew we both needed to say it. So yeah, it’s been a great relationship with him.”
Stockman has worked with both Austin and Ty Dillon, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith and Nick Sanchez for extended periods of time before getting to work with Love. No one has ever impressed Stockman the way Love has.
“He’s hard on me and I’m hard on him, but it’s all for a common goal,” Stockman said. “And when you have that relationship, it’s super special because there’s no ego involved. And when you get to that point, success comes. Like (team owner Richard Childress) said, last week, we didn’t rise to the occasion at Martinsville, and we haven’t been very good there as a company in a while. But we came here, we prepped for the last month and a half to come here and execute.”
And execute they did, leading 35 laps, including the final 25 when it mattered most.
Ty Dillon, grandson of Childress, went to the championship stage to celebrate alongside his family and his former crew chief. Watching Love’s maturation from afar has impressed Dillon with what’s ahead for both Love and the company.
“He is the future of the sport and the future of RCR,” Ty Dillon told NASCAR.com. “I think the way he handles himself at the young age that he is, you could see literally tonight, I felt like just watching from where I was, he grew up tonight throughout the race. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to, but they stayed patient as a team and executed so good, so maturely, and really made that look almost easy against the guys who’ve dominated all year. It’s just super cool, man. I’m happy for my family’s race team.”
It was only fitting that he had to race his best friend, Zilisch, for the race win and the championship. Zilisch won an astounding 10 races in 2025 but ultimately fell two spots short of claiming the title. Their relationship has added fuel to Love’s fire. And while Zilisch is advancing to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025, on Saturday, Love took home the trophy that mattered most that day.
“It’s been really hard this year,” Love said. “At the end of the day, I want to walk in the room and feel like the man, right? And I did for quite a while. Once I had my breakout ARCA season, I was like the hottest thing for the most part, with the exception of probably Corey (Heim). And then Connor kind of took that away from me. And it’s been really tough, right? Hard to deal with that, just the way that your friends look at you, the way that the fans look at you. It’s all tough. It was a hard pill for me to swallow.
“But I sat down today, I was like, ‘Well, I can’t control what Connor does, right? But I can control what I do.’ And every day I woke up and he’s motivated me to be better because I don’t like losing to him. I woke up every day trying to beat him, probably more than myself. So as much as tonight makes me feel really good, I’m not going to have Connor to compare myself to next year, so I’m going to have to change that mindset pretty quick.”
That mindset will come later. Now, Love gets to celebrate becoming a NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.
Bookending the season with victories at Daytona and Phoenix, Love wheeled the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to his first national-series championship in just his second year in Xfinity competition.
Love’s ascension to one of NASCAR’s most storied teams has been rapid but fruitful, now sitting with three series wins to his name and a championship trophy to tote home.
Just two years prior, Love was celebrating the 2023 ARCA Menards Series championship in the same media center. Asked if that same person would believe his rise so soon after, Love was brought to tears upon reflection.
“I can tell you that kid then, with a lot of confidence, was definitely a believer. There’s been versions of myself after that didn’t see that this happening. Just now it’s starting to sink in,” Love said, pausing to choke back his emotions. “I just had to push through like those hard times and just wake up every day and refuse to let that [expletive] voice in your head tell you you’re not going to get up here and just get your head down to work and outrun the pack.”
The journey to the 2025 Xfinity Series championship began 15 years ago, when Love climbed into a race car for the first time. There for every bit of it, Love said, was his father, Duke Love.
“To say that today is like a dream come true just doesn’t get the point across,” Duke Love told NASCAR.com. “All the racing dads out there, they get it, right? You’re putting these kids today in cars at 5 years old, whether it’s a go-kart or a quarter midget or a box cart, and you’re out there with them since they’re 5 years old. You’re working on the cars, you’re pushing them off, you’re loading the trailers, you’re changing the tires, you’re doing everything. And that’s a decade plus of blood, sweat and tears. …
“Those last 20 laps were the culmination of 15 years behind the wheel, all coming together in 20 laps — the experience, the lapped traffic, the holding your line, the taking care of your equipment, all of that. You can’t teach that in five years or a decade. It takes that long in order for them to get sharpened, if you will, to that level. So to have a day like today, I’ll tell you what, it makes it all worth it.”
Love’s mother, Elizabeth, was born and raised in Mexico City, spending her early life there until coming to the United States after college. To see her 20-year-old son become a champion through such an impressive performance — making the winning pass on best friend and season dominator Connor Zilisch with 25 laps to go — was overwhelming.
“We fought so hard. He works so hard every single day,” Elizabeth Love said. “And the lows are so deplorable, but the highs are just — oh my god, this feels so good. Knowing that he’s gonna get on that plane to go home tonight, knowing that he just fought like crazy and ran such a clean race, it’s just … I’m speechless.”
A key part of Love’s rapid rise in the Xfinity Series has been crew chief Danny Stockman. Stockman has a knack for teaching young drivers the ropes and guiding them to the path of success. In 2012, Stockman led Austin Dillon to Xfinity Rookie of the Year honors and a championship in 2013. A dozen years later, Stockman has done it all over again with Love.
“Danny’s like a brother to me,” Love said. “I feel like we’re friends first and then crew-chief/driver second. I’ve had that a couple of times in my life. But yeah, Danny’s great, man. The grit and the tenacity are his two biggest traits, and he expects a lot out of me, sometimes more than I can give it from time to time. Danny’s pushed me to be a lot better.
“We’ve had really hard conversations and yelled and screamed and cussed and this and that and everything, and said things and told each other things when we both didn’t want to hear it, but we knew we both needed to say it. So yeah, it’s been a great relationship with him.”
Stockman has worked with both Austin and Ty Dillon, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith and Nick Sanchez for extended periods of time before getting to work with Love. No one has ever impressed Stockman the way Love has.
“He’s hard on me and I’m hard on him, but it’s all for a common goal,” Stockman said. “And when you have that relationship, it’s super special because there’s no ego involved. And when you get to that point, success comes. Like (team owner Richard Childress) said, last week, we didn’t rise to the occasion at Martinsville, and we haven’t been very good there as a company in a while. But we came here, we prepped for the last month and a half to come here and execute.”
And execute they did, leading 35 laps, including the final 25 when it mattered most.
Ty Dillon, grandson of Childress, went to the championship stage to celebrate alongside his family and his former crew chief. Watching Love’s maturation from afar has impressed Dillon with what’s ahead for both Love and the company.
“He is the future of the sport and the future of RCR,” Ty Dillon told NASCAR.com. “I think the way he handles himself at the young age that he is, you could see literally tonight, I felt like just watching from where I was, he grew up tonight throughout the race. It didn’t start the way he wanted it to, but they stayed patient as a team and executed so good, so maturely, and really made that look almost easy against the guys who’ve dominated all year. It’s just super cool, man. I’m happy for my family’s race team.”
It was only fitting that he had to race his best friend, Zilisch, for the race win and the championship. Zilisch won an astounding 10 races in 2025 but ultimately fell two spots short of claiming the title. Their relationship has added fuel to Love’s fire. And while Zilisch is advancing to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025, on Saturday, Love took home the trophy that mattered most that day.
“It’s been really hard this year,” Love said. “At the end of the day, I want to walk in the room and feel like the man, right? And I did for quite a while. Once I had my breakout ARCA season, I was like the hottest thing for the most part, with the exception of probably Corey (Heim). And then Connor kind of took that away from me. And it’s been really tough, right? Hard to deal with that, just the way that your friends look at you, the way that the fans look at you. It’s all tough. It was a hard pill for me to swallow.
“But I sat down today, I was like, ‘Well, I can’t control what Connor does, right? But I can control what I do.’ And every day I woke up and he’s motivated me to be better because I don’t like losing to him. I woke up every day trying to beat him, probably more than myself. So as much as tonight makes me feel really good, I’m not going to have Connor to compare myself to next year, so I’m going to have to change that mindset pretty quick.”
That mindset will come later. Now, Love gets to celebrate becoming a NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.