Love Paces Practice For Xfinity Finale At Phoenix

Jesse Love in action during NASCAR Xfinity Series practice Friday at Phoenix Raceway. (John Harrelson/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love, who will clinch NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie-of-the-year honors this weekend, topped practice Friday evening at Phoenix Raceway ahead of the season finale.

The 19-year-old from Menlo Park, Calif., paced the field with a quick 27.587-second lap (130.496 mph) to open the weekend of competition.

Love, who ran 42 laps overall in the 50-minute session, was the only driver to crack the 130 mph barrier.

For the Championship 4 drivers, however, it was Cole Custer who was the fastest driver that stayed out of harm’s way and set the fifth quickest lap on Friday.

Custer had a lap of 27.798 seconds (129.506 mph), .211 seconds off of Love for the top spot on the speed charts. The 26-year-old from Ladera Ranch, Calif., put himself in front of title rivals Austin Hill in sixth and A.J. Allmendinger in ninth.

“It was a solid practice day. We definitely want some little things to be better on our Haas Automation/Andy’s Frozen Custard Ford Mustang, but it’s tough because we’re practicing in the daytime and yet we’re racing at night tomorrow,” said Custer.

“It’s tough to know exactly what you have because of that, but I feel like we were solid. It was an interesting practice, because there was that early caution and then we actually had an adjustment that went the wrong direction, but I felt pretty good at the end.”

The caution Custer referenced was for the fourth driver in the title race, Justin Allgaier, who ran across fluid on the track and crashed after putting down the second-quickest single lap in practice.

Despite a fast car in the final Xfinity Series practice of the season, Allgaier’s team is one of five who will be forced to start at the rear due to using a race-ready backup car.

Custer recognized after practice that he could have been the one in Allgaier’s position instead.

“The crash could easily have been us. I was lucky enough to be able to see Brennan Poole break,” said Custer. “He was about 30 car lengths ahead of me. Because of that I was able to go to the apron and avoid it, but I definitely got lucky with that one.”

Other top-10 cars in Friday’s practice were 18-year-old Connor Zilisch in third, Aric Almirola – who will also start at the rear Saturday – in fourth, Brandon Jones in seventh, Parker Retzlaff in eighth, and William Sawalich, who closed out the top 10.

In March at Phoenix Raceway, Custer was the polesitter, Allmendinger lined up 10th and Austin Hill started 15th in the spring. Despite starting from the tail of the field, Allgaier has the confidence of leading 52 laps in the spring and nearly going to victory lane before a late crash.

Qualifying for the Xfinity Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway is slated for 4 p.m. ET Saturday, live on USA, with race coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.