Nashville Top 10 Rejuvenates Love Entering NXS Off Week

Jesse Love (2) battles Sammy Smith at Nashville Superspeedway. (HHP/Jim Fluharty photo)

LEBANON, Tenn. – Jesse Love enters an off weekend for the NASCAR Xfinity Series with renewed vigor after his ninth top-10 finish of the season in the tour’s most recent race at Nashville Superspeedway.

The 20-year-old from Menlo Park, Calif., rose from 15th to eighth in the Tennessee Lottery 250, despite battling a tight No. 2 Titan Risk Solutions Chevrolet for most of the evening.

Though Love couldn’t accrue any stage points, he raced his way up as high as third at one point and spent 91 percent of the race inside the top 15, showing remarkable consistency.

Inside the final 48-lap green flag run, Love charged from 14th to eighth as the handling of his car improved, salvaging what he could after a tough day by his usual standards.

“We fought a tight balance all night with our No. 2 Titan Risk Solutions Chevrolet. Danny Stockman (crew chief) made good calls, but we just couldn’t get our car free enough early on,” said Love. “The pit crew gained positions on each stop which got us track position when we needed it most. At the end of the race, our car was really good on the long run, and we raced our way back into the top 10 with less than 50 laps to go.

“To finish eighth is a testament to our Richard Childress Racing team after the handling issues we faced today. We will go back to work and figure out what we can do better.”

With 12 races remaining prior to the playoff reset, Love holds down fourth in the regular season standings, in a position to add eight playoff points to his tally if he can maintain that ranking.

Love sits 31 points back of Sam Mayer for third in the regular season and an extra two playoff points.

It’s a position that allows Love to focus forward, given that he’s already locked into the postseason by virtue of his season-opening victory at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway in February.

“We know what we need to do, and that’s continue to stack strong days together,” he noted. “I know we have the team and the race cars to do just that.”

The next NASCAR Xfinity Series race is Saturday, June 14 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, where Love’s mother grew up and four prior generations of her family resided dating back to the late 1800s.

Broadcast coverage of the Chilango 150 at the 14-turn, 2.429-mile course is slated for 4 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.