Love On Chicago Top 10: ‘It Was A Good Foundational Day’

Jesse Love in action at the Chicago Street Course. (Wyatt Tinsley/Motorsports Hotspot photo)

CHICAGO – A day during which Jesse Love led laps and ran solidly among the frontrunners ended with a sixth-place finish in The Loop 110 at the Chicago Street Course.

The sophomore NASCAR Xfinity Series driver for Richard Childress Racing qualified his No. 2 Whelen Aerospace Technologies Chevrolet ninth and was in the top 10 near the end of stage one Saturday, when he short-pitted to flip the stage and gain track position.

When a caution for debris waved at lap 25, Love got the chance to gain that clean air, cycling to the race lead as polesitter and eventual winner Shane van Gisbergen made his lone stop for service.

Love paced three laps under that caution, but lost traction getting up to speed on the lap-29 restart that followed and slipped behind Sheldon Creed before regaining his momentum.

The Menlo Park, Calif., standout earned nine stage points for his runner-up ranking at the end of the second stage, then battled fiercely through a pair of restarts in the final stage, including one with two laps left at the 2.2-mile, 12-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Chicago.

Love restarted in the third row and held serve to the checkered flag, crossing the finish line sixth for his series-leading 12th top-10 finish of the year, tied in that category with RCR teammate Austin Hill.

Afterward, the 20-year-old was pleased with a largely mistake-free performance in the Windy City.

“It was a solid race for our No. 2 Whelen Aerospace Technologies Chevrolet on the streets of Chicago. It was a good foundational day for our road course program,” Love noted. “We didn’t have any mistakes that took us out of it. Our car might have been lacking a little speed, but we were able to control not being out of control.

“I was happy with the handling, but just couldn’t get off the corner as well as we needed to. I learned a lot though, which helps to build from, especially with going to another road course next week,” he added. “It was a good points day too for our team. We will keep working and see how Sonoma shakes out.”

With series leader and defending champion Justin Allgaier encountering late brake problems that took him out of the race, Love made gains in the battle for the regular season championship, leaving Chicago just 64 points back in fourth place.

Love and the rest of the Xfinity Series field head next to Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, where he finished 12th last season in his debut at the 1.99-mile, natural terrain road course in the Napa Valley.

It’s the only race of the year in Love’s home state.

Broadcast coverage of the Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 is slated for Saturday, July 12 at 4:30 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.