Love Posts Vegas Podium; Qualifies For Dash 4 Cash Opener

Jesse Love in action at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (HHP/Jim Fluharty photo)

LAS VEGAS – Continued adjustments throughout Saturday’s LiUNA! 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway allowed Jesse Love to charge to a strong third-place finish for Richard Childress Racing.

Despite qualifying seventh, Love and crew chief Danny Stockman were nervous going into race day, feeling they’d “gone the wrong direction” with their adjustments and would struggle for the first half of the race at the 1.5-mile oval.

Those worries were soothed by a masterfully consistent 300 miles, as Love’s No. 2 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet averaged an eighth-place running position and earned points in both 45-lap stages, despite an uncontrolled tire penalty on pit road at the first stage break that sent Love to the tail of the lead lap.

Love raced his way back up to 10th by the end of stage two, then his pit crew gained him four positions during the next pit stop to allow him to line up on the third row to begin the final stage.

From there, Love methodically continued his march forward and cycled out third following his final pit stop at lap 146, holding that position all the way to the checkered flag behind winner Justin Allgaier and runner-up Aric Almirola.

“When we unloaded this week, we were pretty far off. Danny (Stockman) and I were both nervous going into this race, because we were here past closing time [Friday night] and worked late to figure out what we needed to do to be better,” explained Love. “We didn’t think that we could contend for a top 10 yesterday, so to finish third is a big confidence boost. To know that we can come to these places and be a little off, but still find a way to have a winning car at the end, is very encouraging.

“At the end, our Whelen Chevrolet was really strong. Obviously, we were hoping for a caution, but it didn’t come,” Love added. “It’s still a great rebound for our No. 2 team. The [uncontrolled tire] call on pit road doesn’t make much sense to me, so we will have to look at it this week. But overall, I’m proud of my pit crew for rebounding today. They did a good job of getting me back in contention after the trouble we had early in the race.”

Las Vegas marked Love’s best finish since winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway in February and his fourth top 10 in five starts in 2025.

He boasts an average finish of 7.0 to this point, best among all full-time drivers and the only championship contender to average a top 10 thus far.

“I think what we’ve done the first month of the season is a huge testament to the work we put in over the winter to be weekly contenders,” noted Love. “This kind of performance is exactly what Stockman and I hoped to have in year two, and it’s great to know that we’ve checked that box through the first month of the season.

“There’s still a long way to go, but we don’t intend to let up because we know how quickly other teams can catch us if we let off the gas.”

Due to Allgaier’s dominant win, Love slipped to second in the Xfinity Series standings, 19 behind the defending series champion for the regular season point lead.

However, his third-place finish in Sin City did qualify him for the opening race of the Dash 4 Cash bonus program, meaning he’ll race for a $100,000 bonus at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway against Allgaier, RCR teammate Austin Hill, and Sam Mayer.

“I’m super excited to have a chance to race for the Dash 4 Cash money in Miami; it’s a place both Austin and I are pretty good at,” Love said. “I’m looking forward to ripping the bottom there – which I know sounds counterintuitive because people are used to seeing cars right against the wall – but it’s a strategy that has always seemed to work well for me at that track.

“All in all, it’s one of my favorite places to go and I’m optimistic we’ll be able to maintain our consistency and hopefully leave with an extra $100,000 when it’s all over with.”

In his Homestead debut last October, Love advanced from 14th to fourth in his best showing of the semifinal round of the playoffs. He’ll return chasing his second win of 2025 and first on a non-drafting track.

Broadcast coverage of the Hard Rock Bet 300 is slated for Saturday, March 22 at 4 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.