Love Grinds Out Eighth-Place Finish In The Finger Lakes

Jesse Love (2) leads a line of cars Saturday at Watkins Glen International. (HHP/Chris Owens photo)

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Jesse Love battled an ill-handling race car and survived late chaos Saturday at Watkins Glen International to bring home an eighth-place finish in the Mission 200 at the Glen.

After qualifying 11th in the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, Love advanced to seventh by the end of stage one, banking four bonus points toward his regular season total.

From there, the 19-year-old native of Menlo Park, Calif., got as high as fourth and averaged an 11th-place running position, all while passing 53 total cars over the course of the overtime-extended, 90-lap race.

Love was able to avoid two multi-car crashes during the extra laps to get back into the top 10 late in the going, lining up on the fifth row for the final restart and advancing two positions to eighth by the checkered flag.

It wasn’t a flashy day, by any means, but one that Love said afterward he persevered through.

“I’m proud of the effort our No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet team showed at Watkins Glen International. We earned stage points in stage one, but our Camaro was just tight all day,” he noted. “[Crew chief] Danny Stockman made good adjustments to get the balance better, and it definitely helped towards the end.

“We missed a few big crashes and salvaged an eighth-place finish.”

Watkins Glen marked Love’s third top 10 in six NASCAR Xfinity Series road course starts this year, with his best result going right and left of fifth coming in July at the Chicago (Ill.) Street Course.

“Our road course program has been strong this season, but in this one, it was a grind,” Love continued. “We have one more road course race in the playoffs, and I’m confident we will have a strong showing there.

“Now it’s time to go finish the regular season on a high note at Bristol Motor Speedway next Friday night.”

Leaving upstate New York, Love retook seventh in the Xfinity Series’ regular season point standings from Riley Herbst, with one race remaining before the playoff reset. He’s locked into the postseason by virtue of his win back in April at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

If Love can retain seventh in the standings after a Friday night, under-the-lights clash on the Bristol concrete, he’ll earn four extra playoff points toward his total going into the championship chase.

Broadcast coverage of the Xfinity Series’ regular season finale, the Food City 300 at The Last Great Colosseum, is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 20, live on CW Network, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Bristol marks the debut of The CW as the exclusive television home of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, airing the final eight races of the year before broadcasting the full season beginning in 2025.

NBC Sports’ commentary crew of Rick Allen, Steve Letarte, and Jeff Burton will shift to The CW to help close out 2024, with next year’s CW booth crew to be announced at a later point.