Austin Cindric may have dominated headlines this week ahead of his Supercars debut in Adelaide, but he is not the only NASCAR big name to dip his toe into Aussie waters. Jesse Love will take the plunge alongside him and feels that Shane van Gisbergen stands at the heart of his decision to chase the Australian challenge.
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Initially, it was expected that the field would feature Kyle Busch instead of Love, with Image Racing (the team he will be repping) owner Terry Wyhoon coming close to securing Busch two seasons ago. The deal sadly, for him, narrowly fell through.
Love will now get this unique opportunity to race in the land down under and spoke about how van Gisbergen was the driving force behind his push to contest the season finale of the 2025 Dunlop Super2 Series at the BP Adelaide Grand Final.
The Californian, who secured the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series title at the start of the month, admitted that Supercars had hardly even been on his radar. That changed the moment SVG tore through the Xfinity Series last year, winning three races across road and street courses and turning the stock-car world on its head.
Love said, “I didn’t even really know about it until Shane. In my free time, I watch more sprint car racing, things like that, I didn’t even realise what was going on in Australia other than midget and sprint car racing.”
“So when me, and Shane got close and we became good friends, we started looking into it and I thought it looked like so much fun. More importantly, I thought there was so much for me to learn here, and the stuff that Shane does is like magic. If I can go over there and trial by fire, get my butt kicked, and learn some of that magic that Shane has, it will be huge experience for me,” he added.
Love will test at Mallala early in the week before joining the Dunlop Super2 Series field throughout all four days of the BP Adelaide Grand Final. The RCR driver carries no expectations into the weekend, embracing the trip as a chance to sharpen his road-course skill set before heading back to the United States. However, there is one thing he intends to chase: refining his right-foot braking.
Love added that right-foot braking may become part of his Xfinity routine next year if he feels confident with it, and that possibility fuels his anticipation as he prepares to tackle the Australian challenge head-on.
