Late Vibration Leaves Love 29th In The Irish Hills

Jesse Love's crew services his car on pit road Saturday at Michigan Int'l Speedway. (HHP/David Graham photo)

BROOKLYN, Mich. – A late pit stop under green derailed Jesse Love’s chances at a strong result and left him with a 29th-place finish in Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan Int’l Speedway.

Love, who qualified ninth and finished second in stage two to earn nine stage points, was running 10th inside the final 20 laps when he had to bring his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro down pit road on lap 109 with a tire vibration.

After bolting on a fresh set of Goodyear Eagles and taking enough fuel to get to the finish, Love found himself a lap down to the leaders and was pinned there when the yellow flag waved with nine laps left in regulation for a brief rain shower.

Unable to make up any major ground during an overtime restart, Love was forced to settle with just his fifth finish outside the top 20 all season.

“We had a decent Whelen Chevrolet at Michigan Int’l Speedway. We had a good starting spot and were able to race in the lead draft most of the day,” said Love. “We gained stage points in stage two by finishing second and made some strategy calls mid-race to set us up for the end, in hopes of other cars having to pit under green. But with 17 to go, we had to pit under the green flag and in the process, we went a lap down. I felt a vibration a few laps before that, and I didn’t want to take the chance of blowing out a tire and wrecking the car.

“At that late stage in the race, it was impossible to make up the lap, so we had to settle with a 29th-place finish. I felt like we had a top-10 car, and it just wasn’t meant to be,” Love continued.

With five races remaining in the regular season, Love is already locked into the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs by virtue of his April victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and sits eighth in the aggregate standings, 164 points back of leader Cole Custer.

The best news for the 19-year-old from Menlo Park, Calif.? The next race on the calendar is at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway, where Love sat on the pole back in February and led 34 laps before mid-race crash damage left him with a non-representative 20th-place finish.

“We will go back to the shop and get ready for Daytona, and we’re really excited to get back there,” Love noted. “Richard Childress Racing and ECR Engines always bring fast cars there and I’m looking forward to going for the finish on paper that this team deserves after how strong we were to open the season.”

Broadcast coverage of the Wawa 250 powered by Coca-Cola is slated for Saturday night, Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.