Love Primed For Brickyard 400 Debut With Beard Team

Jesse Love (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Jesse Love will make his highly-anticipated first start in the Brickyard 400 Sunday when he takes to the track with the NASCAR Cup Series for the fourth time this season.

Love returns to Beard Motorsports for the crown-jewel event at famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he’ll drive the No. 62 C4 Ultimate Energy Chevrolet for the family-owned team based in Michigan.

The race marks the first Brickyard appearance for both driver and team, and it’s a place Love grew up dreaming of one day competing at.

“I’ve loved Indianapolis for as long as I can remember and I know how much it means not just to NASCAR, but to motorsports as a whole,” said the 20-year-old native of Menlo Park, Calif. “I grew up racing dirt cars throughout the state of Indiana and, when you’re in that environment, you can’t help but see the Brickyard and want to race on that pavement someday.

“It was amazing last year just to drive the Xfinity car there, but to know I’m strapping in Sunday to race in the Brickyard 400 – there’s nothing quite like that feeling and it’s such a blessing and a privilege.”

Not only is Indianapolis a place where Love has driving experience from his Xfinity Series campaign last year, it’s a place where he’s taken in the biggest motorsport event in the world – the Indianapolis 500 – on multiple occasions as well.

“I have been to Indy a few times and I have watched the Indy 500. I always thought that was the coolest race in the world,” he noted. “I always loved going to Indy. It’s not my favorite racetrack to drive, but it’s the coolest racetrack I think there is because of the history and because of the Indy 500.”

Love is one of four drivers doing double duty at the Brickyard, joining Kyle Larson, Josh Bilicki, and Katherine Legge in racing both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series races there during the weekend.

It makes for a busy schedule, but one that Love relishes and feels keeps him “in a good rhythm.”

“I think it helps. I’m just going to have to prepare a little more,” Love noted. “It’s basically double the prep. I’m going to have to be a little more nitty-gritty on the Cup side, just because I obviously don’t race those cars as much as I do on the Xfinity side.”

Love’s in-race experience at Indianapolis is limited, considering he was involved in a lap-one crash there last year during the Xfinity Series race, but he’s not going to let that stop him from continuing to learn and grow alongside the stars of NASCAR’s premier series.

“I crashed on lap one last year and drove the car without the right-front fender on it, but I still feel like I have an understanding of what the racing is like there, so I kind of have a good idea of what the weekend is going to look like and what the race will be like,” he explained. “(Otherwise,) I feel like Indy is its own racetrack. There’s nothing else like it or even similar to it.

“Learning about the cars and what balance I need in the car, how to race, and some of my strengths and weaknesses will all be keys that I need to focus on for Sunday afternoon. If we can check those boxes and keep the car clean, I’ll feel like we accomplished our goals and had a successful Brickyard 400.”

Broadcast coverage of the 29th Brickyard 400 presented by PPG airs Sunday, July 27 at 2 p.m. ET, live on TNT, the IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.