While other young drivers can’t reach the NASCAR Cup Series quick enough, Jesse Love is in no hurry. The 20-year-old, who made his Cup debut in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, had a rough go of it in that race, driving the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to a 31st-place finish in the 37-driver field.
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“I was happy I was racing against guys I think are really good, I felt like I had good speed and I was really comfortable in the car,” Love told Fronstretch.com. “Obviously, the finish wasn’t there. Do I know why yet? No, I kind of have to go back and see where we lost spots and how we lost them.
“It was just kind of too much for me to take in at one time to be able to analyze how we didn’t finish that good because I honestly thought our pace was decent. I was just too tight all day, all weekend really, in all the cars I drove, so we had that going against us.”
Even though his Cup debut didn’t end up with the performance he had hoped for, Love was particularly appreciative of the help he got from RCR teammate and two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch.
While he’s glad he got his first Cup start out of the way, in an interview just before the green flag on Sunday, Love made it clear that he feels it is in his best interest to continue his apprenticeship in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for at least another year or two so he can hone his craft even more.
“Beats the hell out of me, I don’t really know,” Love laughed when asked if he has a timeline to get to Cup. “I mean, yeah, the sooner the better for obvious reasons, but I don’t really know.
“I feel like I have opportunities and all that, which is great. But quite honestly, I won’t have those opportunities if I don’t perform, right? So, I feel like I’ve found a good headspace right now. Yeah, be really grateful that I have those opportunities, but I also will lose them quickly if I don’t perform.
“So just try to stay in the same headspace that I’ve been in, which is try not to care about that (reaching Cup) too much, and if I do a good enough job, then those things will happen naturally.”
Love Is Having a Heck of a Time in Xfinity This Year Thus Far
Love is off to a great start in the Xfinity ranks. In his rookie season last year, he finished eighth in the final standings, including one win, seven top-five finishes, 18 top-10 finishes, and five pole positions.
This year, Love is continuing his Xfinity education. In nine races thus far, he has one win, two top-five, six top-10 finishes and one pole, in the first nine races of the season. He also sits an impressive third in the standings after Saturday’s sixth-place finish at Bristol
Love started the season with a win at Daytona, but feels he hit the toughest patch thus far with a sixth-place finish at Homestead, a crash ended his day with a season-low (to date) 37th-place finish at Homestead, finished 11th at Darlington, and then rebounded with his sixth-place showing Saturday at Bristol.
“Kind of Homestead to Darlington, I feel like it’s not quite up to par to where I need to be,” Love said. “So I feel like I’ve tried to make a little bit of a mental shift over the week to get ready for this weekend and try to just start being like a top two to three car every week and not just like a top five to six car.”
