‘Dega Win For Love Highlights Banner Race Face Weekend
Jesse Love won Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. (James Gilbert/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)
NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (April 22, 2024) – Race Face Brand Development’s lineup of drivers put together one of the organization’s most successful stretches of racing ever over the weekend.
Led by Jesse Love’s breakthrough NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, racers working with Race Face’s team of branding professionals combined for four wins and 14 top-seven finishes across five different racetracks and six separate disciplines.
Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega was the highlight, as Love drove to the win in a double-overtime thriller while stretching his final tank of fuel more than 50 laps in dramatic fashion.
It marked the first win for the 19-year-old native of Menlo Park, Calif., in one of NASCAR’s three national touring series, as well as the first NASCAR national win by a current Race Face Brand Development driver.
“We have such a great group of guys at RCR,” said Love. “It’s been such a journey to get to this point and there are so many people who have been involved along the way. I have to give all the glory to God; I can’t say enough what it means to have the opportunity I do to race at this level.
“I wanted [a win] so bad. I love Talladega; it’s my favorite speedway and we got the job done!”
Behind Love, who led five times for 28 laps en route to victory lane, Anthony Alfredo carried the underdog Our Motorsports team to its best Xfinity Series finish of the year in third. Sheldon Creed crossed the line sixth to make it three Race Face drivers inside the top half-dozen in the 300-mile affair.
Alfredo went on to avoid the last-lap pileup that ended Sunday’s GEICO 500 for the NASCAR Cup Series, skirting the chaos to finish sixth for the family-run Beard Motorsports team. His No. 62 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 raced up front all day and led four laps throughout the race.
It was not only Alfredo’s career-best Cup Series finish, it was a stellar effort for the 25-year-old Connecticut driver that generated respect among many top competitors in the Cup Series field.
Outside the NASCAR garage, Kaden Honeycutt led 97 of 100 laps to win the zMAX CARS Tour’s pro late model feature at North Carolina’s Orange County Speedway. Honeycutt also finished second to Brent Crews in the tour’s 125-lap, headlining late model stock car main event.
Thirteen-year-old Jacob Clayton took his Grant Thompson Racing-prepared Pro Truck to a third-place finish in his first race at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway, while Cole Denton (Legend cars) and Taegan Knowland (Bandoleros) both earned top-five finishes during the two-day INEX Spring Nationals event at Nashville (Tenn.) Fairgrounds Speedway.
Rounding out the crew, nine-year-old Landon Cox doubled up with wins from the pole in both the Senior Honda and Senior Animal divisions with the North Georgia Quarter Midget Association.
Across the board, the weekend was a three-day showcase that left Race Face Brand Development founder and CEO Rod Wortham filled with pride at the continued growth of the athletes he and his team have worked with.
“Continuing our stellar start to the 2024 season, it’s amazing to see the level of poise and performance that our family of drivers showcased throughout the weekend,” said Wortham. “Jesse’s Xfinity Series victory at Talladega in just his ninth start is a testament to his adaptability, skillset, and rising talent, and I believe it will be the first of many that he and Richard Childress Racing are able to achieve together.
“When you add to that top-six finishes by both Sheldon Creed and Anthony Alfredo on the Xfinity side, as well as a sixth-place finish by Anthony in the premier Cup Series race on Sunday at Talladega, it leaves little doubt that our drivers have put together the necessary tools to race at the highest levels in NASCAR,” Wortham continued. “They continue to progress and excel every time they hit the racetrack, and that will only help to elevate their names and brands further among their fanbases.
“On the short-track side, Kaden’s dominant pro late model victory and runner-up finish in the loaded CARS Tour late model stock class show that he’s a contender in every race that he enters. I also want to give a nod to Landon Cox’s pair of quarter midget triumphs, Jacob Clayton’s pro truck podium in Pensacola, as well as the consistent runs at Nashville by Taegan Knowland in Bandoleros and Cole Denton in Legend cars against highly talented fields.
“The diversity of success by all of these drivers shows the value of the skills and lessons available to drivers across the Race Face Brand Development platform.”
Information on the full lineup of Race Face Brand Development drivers, including race recaps, featured profiles, and more is available through the Race Face TV media website at https://raceface.tv/.
About Race Face Brand Development
Race Face Brand Development is a full-service branding and development program servicing young racecar drivers between the ages of 5 and 25, who have dreams and goals of reaching the top levels in racing. The Race Face team has more than six decades of combined experience and successes in driver coaching, media, marketing, and branding.
The company is located in New Port Richey, Fla., with representatives in the Charlotte, N.C., market.
For information and program applications, visit www.racefacebranddevelopment.com.
