Jesse Love redeems his first Xfinity win
Jesse Love saved enough fuel Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway to redeem his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win in double overtime.
Love was on the opposite end of the fuel-mileage game than he was two months ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway. On that day, he won stages one and two and led all but 10 laps – until he ran out of fuel in overtime and finished 12th.
Love won stage one and placed second in stage two, earning the most bonus points of any driver Saturday. He hung around the front of the field after leading on lap 56 but didn’t take the lead again until lap 100 with help from teammate Austin Hill.
Love led 11 laps until Hill tried his hand at going for broke. Hill ran into trouble two laps later but Love stayed strong, even in the first attempt at overtime when he received a big push from Sammy Smith who caused a wreck involving Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed and Josh Williams.
In the second overtime, Love managed the field just right and benefited from Anthony Alfredo hanging Brennan Poole out to dry, when Poole was alongside Love going into the tri-oval, and won his first Xfinity Series race.
TOP-10 FINISHERS: Love, Riley Herbst, Alfredo, Leland Honeyman, Poole, Creed, Caesar Bacarella, Matt DiBenedetto, Jeb Burton, Cole Custer
Honeyman earned his best career finish. Bacarella was just one position behind his best career finish, sixth, which he earned last year at Talladega.
Austin Hill finished 14th after wrecking with two laps to go in regulation. He led seven times for 41 laps (race-high).
Ryan Sieg finished 17th and claimed the $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus over A.J. Allmendinger who finished 19th with nose damage.
Josh Williams, Allmendinger’s Kaulig Racing teammate, finished 20th, after spinning during the first overtime.
Sammy Smith ran out of fuel right under caution before the second overtime. He ran out right after Shane van Gisbergen did. They finished 21th and 22nd, respectively.
Blaine Perkins and David Starr also ran out of fuel while running inside the top-10 before the second overtime. They finished 23rd and 24th, one lap down, respectively.
Parker Kligerman wrecked out of the lead in the first overtime and finished 29th. He finished ahead of the Jordan Anderson Racing duo of Parker Retzlaff and Anderson. The team’s namesake wrecked with two to go in regulation.
Brandon Jones, Ryan Truex, Jeremy Clements and Sam Mayer wrecked out on lap 67 and finished 33rd-36th. Justin Allgaier was the first casualty of the race, wrecking out on lap 25 as stage one ended, putting him in 38th (last).
STAGE ONE TOP-10: Jesse Love, Parker Kligerman, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Truex, Shane van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Cole Custer
STAGE TWO TOP-10: Hill, Love, Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, B. Jones, C. Smith, Kligerman, Herbst, Jeb Burton, Custer
The next race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is April 27. The A-Game 200 goes green at Dover Motor Speedway just after 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Ryan Truex won last year.
Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, Anthony Alfredo and Leland Honeyman will go for the Dash4Cash money during the season finale of the D4C series.
POINTS AND RESULTS
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com