Love Brings Deep Family Heritage To Mexico City NXS Race

WELCOME, N.C. – When it comes to NASCAR’s upcoming return to Mexico City, there’s a crop of drivers heavily in the spotlight looking to fight for a victory on home- and heritage-laden soil.

Names like Daniel Suarez and Andres Perez de Lara come easily to mind as far as those who have had a buzz around them since the announcement last August that top-level American stock car racing was returning to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Standout sophomore sensation Jesse Love isn’t necessarily among that crowd. But he should be, for multiple reasons, entering the NASCAR Xfinity Series Chilango 150 at the 2.429-mile, 14-turn circuit.

Though he doesn’t look it from a glance – carrying with him what some might call “West Coast surfer kid” looks from his time growing up in Menlo Park, Calif. – half of the 20-year-old’s family culture traces directly to Mexico City, and deeply, not just tangentially.

Love’s mother Elizabeth is a fourth-generation Mexican; her great-grandparents, grandfather, and father all came before her after her family emigrated to the country from England in the 1870s, and she grew up in the heart of Mexico City, with the rich Mexican culture deeply ingrained within her.

It’s something even she knows isn’t readily evident upon first meeting, but something that she takes great pride in and that her children have come to take pride in as they’ve grown older.

“We say a lot that people wouldn’t know [the family history] looking at Jesse, and they certainly wouldn’t know it looking at me,” Elizabeth Love noted with a chuckle. “But it’s something that has had a big impact on the kids’ (Jesse and his sister Vivian) lives and certainly on my life.

“I made a very concerted effort throughout their upbringing to incorporate Mexican culture and heritage into the family, between annual visits to Mexico for Thanksgiving and certainly with the food aspect … that, I think, is a huge one as well,” she continued. “My kids grew up eating Mexican food and with Mexican traditions and around (the) Spanish (language), because I’m bilingual and so is Jess (Love, Jesse’s father).

“It’s all been things that you, as a parent, hope will mean something to your kids and that they’ll carry forward with them … and I feel like Jesse has found more and more that resonates with him as he’s gotten older.”

For Jesse Love, he agrees with his mother’s assessment, “and not just because I’m her kid and I’m supposed to say so!”

The wise-beyond-his-years racer looks at his family background as something to be celebrated, and while he admits he might not have done the best job of expressing that in his younger years, he’s trying to do so better in his adult life.

“Man, heritage and culture are such a huge part of the human element; it’s what bonds people together and brings people joy. And I’ve been so fortunate that I grew up in a household where I had both the typical California upbringing, but then I also got to grow up experiencing the Mexican culture and what that means as well,” explained Jesse Love. “With what I ate, the way that my mom talked to me and raised me … along with our family, friends, and relatives, and the places I got to travel and go see, it was just all part of who we are and what we did.

“I guess it 's a way, it’s something I didn’t really think too much about … when something is just a part of your life naturally, it’s easy to overlook and you don’t really think about it too much, because it just is,” he added. “As I look back on it now, I feel so much gratitude that I got to grow up in a household where I was able to experience all the cultural differences that I have.

“Hopefully, I can share that with more and more people through moments like this (upcoming) race in Mexico City and other places going forward into the future.”

From a cultural standpoint, Jesse pointed out that perhaps the biggest piece of Mexican heritage that has stayed with him from his youth has been many of the food options available in the nation’s culture.

He also noted a personal favorite – Chile relleno, a traditional Mexican dish of roasted poblano peppers stuffed with cheese and fried in egg batter – that he still enjoys when his mom is around to make it.

“That dish … I’ve never really had it as good as when my mom makes it, except when I’ve actually been in Mexico,” tipped Jesse. “It’s really hard to find and people don’t always make it the right way, but whenever my mom is in town, I ask her to make that for me.

“My godmother also grew up in Mexico City, and she can make it really, really good too!” he added enthusiastically.

Though Jesse is half Mexican, both mother and son agreed that the Spanish language isn’t something that has become a staple of his vocabulary – at least, not yet anyway.

“While, yes, the kids grew up hearing me basically speak in both languages … unfortunately, I did a really poor job as their mother of getting them to speak Spanish fluently,” noted Elizabeth. “It’s my greatest regret, but I think most immigrants would probably tell you the same thing.”

“I’ve actually tried pretty hard at it more recently!” Jesse stressed, a smile breaking onto his face. “I’m still learning a little bit. I took it up [learning the language] in the offseason and … when I go around town with my friends, I can hold a conversation per se, and I can understand some of what people are saying. But being fully bilingual is definitely something I wish I’d learned growing up; I was just focused on other things in racing at that point. But even now, I’m trying to learn a little bit more every year.”

The younger Love hopes to put those recent lessons to the test when he gets to Mexico City in advance of the 15th race of the Xfinity Series season, both at and away from the track.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m really looking forward to going to Mexico, is to test out the Spanish that I learned over the winter,” he said. “I actually put a lot of hours into it, so I’m looking forward to going there and hopefully being able to speak Spanish and have people better understand me and whatnot.”

Looking toward the actual on-track product, this summer marks the first time for NASCAR’s national arm to race in Mexico City in 17 years, the last time in a four-year run from 2005-’08 that the Xfinity Series raced at Hermanos Rodriguez.

Both the premier Cup Series and the Xfinity Series will race during the June 14-15 weekend spectacular, the first NASCAR national series doubleheader outside United States borders in the sport’s history.

The NASCAR Mexico Series – born out of the Desafío Corona, which was first founded as a joint venture between NASCAR and Mexican entertainment group OCESA in 2004 – has been a staple of the country’s racing history for more than two decades.

But there’s a special allure about the premier levels of the sport coming to the Mexican capital, and Elizabeth Love tipped her country’s race fans – as well as her own family – are hungry for it.

“I think, and I hope, that everyone is going to see and can grasp the absolute sheer excitement and exhilaration of having this sport, having NASCAR, back in Mexico City,” she pointed out. “Mexicans are extremely friendly and enthusiastic, especially when it comes to sports. It’s going to be different, probably, for some people because so much attention goes on the Formula One race there … but our people love fast cars and they love motorsports, and I hope that passion comes across to everyone else.

“For me, this is a literal homecoming. To say that it’s a dream come true is a huge understatement,” she added. “When I first heard that the Cup Series was going to race in Mexico, I was like, ‘Oh, please. Oh, please. Oh, please, let us [the Xfinity Series] have a chance.’ And then they did announce it and my family … we all went crazy. This means so much to us. There aren’t words to describe it.

“My family has always been super supportive of Jesse; my brothers have each gone to races as one-offs here and there, but my extended family in Mexico has watched and never had an opportunity to experience a race. For us to be able to do it, not just in my home city, but with all the people that I love the most and with Jesse in the field…

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of feeling, it really is.”

Notably, Jesse Love has a past ARCA Menards Series win in road course competition at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l from his championship season in 2023, and finished a strong sixth with the Xfinity Series at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas in March after starting from the rear of the field.

He knows racing in Mexico is a big deal, though, considering that nearly 20 of his Mexican-based family and friends will be on-hand and in-person to watch him chase his second Xfinity Series win of the year.

For that reason, the young star is leaning into both his family’s roots and enthusiasm as much as he can.

“I’ve been to Mexico plenty of times, but never to do like what I feel like I was put on this earth to do,” said Jesse. “To go there and be able to race in front of family, some that I’ve never even met before, but also some that I know really well is going to be meaningful to me both as a person and as a racer. I’m so looking forward to experiencing that.

“Now that people are starting to realize what my family heritage is and more about our culture, I think it will be pretty cool to … not necessarily educate people, but to let people see that side of me.”

Wheeling the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, Love will take to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Saturday, June 14.

Broadcast coverage of the event is slated for 4 p.m. ET live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.