Love ‘Extra Motivated’ Heading Back To The Peach State

Jesse Love (Rusty Jones/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

HAMPTON, Ga. – With a runner-up finish from Pocono Raceway in hand, Jesse Love heads to one of his top statistical tracks continuing to chase his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the year.

Love and the rest of the Xfinity Series field are headed to the former Atlanta Motor Speedway – recently renamed EchoPark Speedway – for the 17th race overall and second trip to Georgia this year.

It’s a 1.54-mile superspeedway where Love has earned the pole in all three of his prior starts, though he’s yet to reach victory lane and leave the Peach State with a trophy.

The 20-year-old standout nearly took the win in his first Atlanta visit, which was just his second Xfinity Series start ever, by dominating that night and leading 157 of a possible 169 laps.

But his fuel cell sputtered coming to the final overtime restart and Love was forced to settle for a disappointing 12th-place finish.

Since then, he and Richard Childress Racing have continued to showcase speed at the facility, but the memories of that near-miss remain.

“That night was probably the most dominant car I’ve ever had in my career,” reflected Love. “It drove really well and did all the things right that you need it to do in order to start up front, control the race, and drive to a win. The fuel just wasn’t in our favor at the very end that night.

“We’re not focused on the past, though – we’re focused on the present and trying to win this weekend so we can continue all the momentum we’ve built up so far in the regular season.”

Last time out, Love was passed for the win at Pocono by his best friend and Xfinity Series rival Connor Zilisch, who ultimately stole the laurels from Love and continued the season-long duel at the front of the pecking order between JR Motorsports and RCR.

While coming so close – and then coming up short – of a win a week ago was bittersweet, Love admitted he sees both a friend and a competitor when he’s battling Zilisch on the racetrack.

“I see a friend; I’m not going to lie and try to sound cool. I see a competitor, but I do see a friend there and I feel like it motivates me to want to beat him even more because of it,” Love explained. “I think it also helps because he and I both know what our moves are, what we do and don’t do, and what we’re thinking … so I feel like it helps us race even closer to each other and not make many mistakes to where we can put on a really good show for the fans.

“Unfortunately, I was the bridesmaid at Pocono, but we still have a lot of awesome battles with one another to come,” he added. “When I was behind him with two (laps) to go, I caught a sniff (of the draft) and really thought I’d get him back. When he missed the tunnel turn (turn two), I started to catch back up to him and I don’t think I've ever been more focused in my life. I didn’t want to go back home and every dinner have to hear that he beat me … but I bit the bullet and next time we’ll look to flip the script.”

Coming off his second-place finish in the Pocono Mountains, Love has four top 10s in his last six Xfinity Series starts, including two podiums during that span.

A win to go along with his season-opening triumph at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway in February, however, has been elusive. Love and company thought they had it at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway in April, only to suffer a disqualification for a technical infraction found in post-race inspection.

Could it come this weekend in Love’s fourth start in Atlanta? The Menlo Park, Calif., driver feels it’s “very possible.”

“While Atlanta is a drafting track, it’s so different than Daytona or Talladega. They’re not the same beast and you have a much different style at each place. Even the package we bring is somewhat different. But (crew chief Danny) Stockman and I have a lot of things figured out for what I need to be successful there, and I feel like we’ve implemented a lot of those as we’ve learned and grown together.

“The goal is to control the race with a fast Chevrolet. If we can do that, I think we’ll be tough to beat, and I’m extra motivated after being one spot short last weekend.”

Love and RCR will debut a new sponsor on the No. 2 Chevrolet in Atlanta in Roland, a North and South American distributor of best-selling wide-format inkjet printers, vinyl cutters, engravers, 3D scanners, and milling machines.

Based in Irvine, Calif., Roland DGA is the U.S.-based marketing, distribution, and sales arm of Japan’s Roland DG Corp., a worldwide leader in the sign, graphic arts, fine art, vehicle graphics, UV, photography, engraving, and 3D modeling industries.

Broadcast coverage of Friday night’s Focused Health 250 from EchoPark Speedway is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.