Daytona Love: RCR gets Xfinity 4-peat

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A match made in NASCAR Xfinity Series heaven, Richard Childress Racing found Love in victory lane at Daytona on Valentine’s Day weekend.

Jesse Love brought home RCR’s fourth-straight checkered flag in the February Daytona race with a win in Saturday night’s United Rentals 300. Love led three times for 30 laps, including the final 18, in his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet.

In all, RCR cars led eight times for 86 of the 126 laps run. Austin Hill led five times for 56 laps and swept the stages before a strong smell of grease and smoke in the cockpit pulled him to pit road on lap 81.

On pit road, the crew fatefully determined Hill’s No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet had an issue with the rear gear. He mustered one more lap before falling out of the race.

“I’d rather end up turned and on my lid on the backstretch on the final lap than end the race like this. It’s really too bad,” Hill said.

Back on track, teammate Love picked up where Hill left off.

He took the lead for the first time during a restart on lap 95. Although he traded blows with Sheldon Creed and Connor Zilisch, who each led for a lap, Love couldn’t be deterred — even in overtime. On the restart, Love slid down in front of the Haas Factory Team duo of Creed and Sam Mayer and had a little help from a caution to score his second career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Love’s first career win came at sister track Talladega Superspeedway in April. While the two tracks are similar, there is more than meets the eye that Love had to study to win at Daytona.

“I kind of thought the two were similar, and I just studied Daytona for weeks and tried to figure out what it is that doesn’t work for me here,” he said. “The moment for me was I went and watched Talladega, and I was like, ‘None of these moves are going to work at Daytona,’ and that’s when I realized, Talladega is kind of more checkers, and Daytona is a little bit more chess.”

Love was the grandmaster of a lifelong dream fulfilled Saturday night.

“I mean, this is the only place I cry during the National Anthem, or kind of get emotional. I’m an emotional guy, as everybody knows, and I try not to hide it but this place is special. You come up racing here when I was at New Smyrna and just wanting to be a part of it, wanting to have the prestige of winning here and say the Lord’s name on a big stage.”

Top-10 (Lap 126): Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, Sheldon Creed, Carson Kvapil, Taylor Gray, Harrison Burton, Jordan Anderson, Dean Thompson, Jeremy Clements, Patrick Emerling

Stage 1 Top-10 (Lap 30): Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed, Nick Sanchez, Jeb Burton, Anthony Alfredo, Leland Honeyman Jr., Justin Allgaier, Dean Thompson, Jesse Love, Taylor Gray

Stage 2 Top-10 (Lap 60): Hill, Ryan Sieg, Creed, Allgaier, Thompson, J. Burton, Gray, William Sawalich, Alfredo, Harrison Burton

Leaders (11): Hill (five times for 56 laps), Love (three times for 30 laps), Allgaier (five times for 11 laps), Sieg (three times for 10 laps), Creed (three times for seven laps), J. Burton (led four laps), Caesar Bacarella (four), Gray (led one lap), H. Burton (one), Sammy Smith (one), Connor Zilisch (one).

Love’s other Xfinity Series win came last April at Talladega. Next up for him and the series is Atlanta Motor Speedway where, last February, he won the pole and led 157 of 167 laps in regulation before running out of gas in overtime.

Love is likely to make a start in the NASCAR Cup Series this year, a source familiar with the matter told TRE. Further details haven’t been disclosed.