Love After Texas Top 10: ‘We’re Building Something Strong’

Jesse Love (2) overcame adversity for a solid finish at Texas Motor Speedway. (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

FORT WORTH, Texas – A roller-coaster Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway for Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love found new life late and ended in a seventh-place finish.

Love, who started third in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 and ran among the top five for the first two stages, hit an unexpected setback on lap 104 after being squeezed into the outside wall on the backstretch during an incident that eliminated Sheldon Creed.

With damage to the right side of the No. 2 Samsara Chevrolet, Love pitted for repairs, then slowly began a rally back from 28th during the second half of the race.

Even though he was pinned a lap down after a green-flag pit stop at lap 150, Love was able to take a wave-around at the eighth yellow, after race-long dominator Justin Allgaier crashed out of contention.

Restarting 15th with 37 to go, Love worked his way to 11th before Corey Day hit the inside wall in turn three to set up the first of several sprints to the finish.

Crew chief Danny Stockman made the call to keep Love on track, one of six drivers who stayed out to gain track position, and the 20-year-old from Menlo Park, Calif., lined up fifth with seven to go as a result.

Digging his heels in from there, Love slipped back to seventh prior to the first attempt at overtime, but held his position from the fourth row on the final restart to notch his eighth top 10 in 12 NASCAR Xfinity Series races this year.

Afterward, Love gave credit to his crew for keeping him in the game despite several moments that could have easily scuttled their solid overall performance.

“Man, that was a fight. We had a tight balanced No. 2 Samsara Chevrolet, but I’m proud of the speed we showed all day long while racing inside the top 10,” Love explained. “Getting caught up in that late-race mess wasn’t ideal. I’m not sure if the No. 00 (Creed) came up or the No. 17 (Day) went down, but this Richard Childress Racing team never quit.

“Danny (Stockman) had his work cut out for him today. We made multiple pit stops and the team did a great job with the repairs for us to get back on track,” Love continued. “We rallied, kept our heads down, and grabbed another top 10. A seventh-place finish says a lot about the heart of this group.

“We’re building something strong, and we’ll keep digging.”

Love still averaged a 12th place running position despite the mid-race incident. He maintains fourth place in the regular season standings, 97 points back of leader and defending series champion Justin Allgaier.

He’ll get two weeks off to reset before the Xfinity Series season resumes at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, where the 20-year-old qualified fourth last year but struggled to a 28th-place finish.

Broadcast coverage of the BetMGM 300 at the 1.5-mile CMS quad-oval is slated for Saturday, May 24 at 4:30 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.