Jesse Love
American stock car racing driver

Jesse Love

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American stock car racing driver
Gender:
Male
Work field:
Birth:
14 January 2005(Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California, USA)
Star sign:
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The details
Biography

Introduction

Jesshill Michael Gregory Love (born January 14, 2005) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing.

Love currently holds two records: He is the youngest winner ever in the ARCA Menards Series West, and the youngest winner ever in any NASCAR sanctioned event, both at 15 years, 5 months, and 13 days. He is also the youngest driver to win a NASCAR sanctioned championship; at age 15. He was also the ARCA Menards Series West champion for 2020 and 2021 and the ARCA Menards Series champion for 2023.

Racing career

Jesse Love
Love competing at Sonoma Raceway in 2021

Early career

Love began racing at age five. Early in his career, he drove in the Quarter Midgets of America Series, where he won multiple races and championships before turning ten years old. He then went on to win championships in three different divisions of USAC in the same year, becoming the first driver to accomplish that. At age 13, Love, competing for Naake-Klauer Motorsports, was granted an age waiver to compete in the RPM Pro Late Model Series by Madera Speedway track promoter Kenny Shepherd due to his talent in the 51Fifty Energy Drink Jr. Late Model Series the prior year (in which he won another championship). In 2018, Love drove full-time in the INEX Legend Car Racing Series, winning five of the eight races on the schedule en route to that series' championship. The other series he raced in that year were the BCRA Midget Series and the Hunt Magneto Sprint Car Series, both of whom Love had to apply for an age exception to participate in. Love drove for Keith Kunz Motorsports in the SRL Southwest Tour, a late model racing series, in 2019.

ARCA

On January 14, 2020, it was announced that Love would run full-time and for rookie of the year in the ARCA Menards Series West in the No. 19 Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing. He replaced Hailie Deegan in that car, who left the McAnally team and Toyota's driver development program to join Ford's driver development program, running full-time in the 20-race ARCA Menards Series for DGR-Crosley.

After finishing second in the season-opener at Las Vegas Bullring, Love won his first West Series race in the first of the two races in the doubleheader at the Utah Motorsports Campus road course on June 27. It was just his second start in the series.

In addition, Love and his BMR teammates would compete in the ten races of the 20-race ARCA Menards Series' Sioux Chief Showdown. He made his debut in the first Showdown race at Phoenix Raceway on March 6. A few weeks earlier, Love and his teammates also made their debut in the ARCA Menards Series East at New Smyrna; Love finished twelfth.

Love finished the 2020 ARCA West season with 3 wins and 9 top 5 finishes in 11 races en route to the championship, beating out season-long rival Blaine Perkins. He became the youngest West Series champion at just 15 years, 9 months, and 24 days old.

In 2021, Love returned to BMR for his second season in the West Series, and moved from the No. 19 to the No. 16, replacing Gio Scelzi with the team condensing from four full-time cars to two and the No. 19 car being closed down. He also returned to Venturini Motorsports for a nine-race schedule in the main ARCA Menards Series (including all three combination races with the ARCA Menards Series East) as well as one non-combination race in the East Series (at Dover). In both series, he drove the No. 25. He earned his first career win of the season at Salem Speedway, outdueling Ty Gibbs in a restart with 46 laps to go.

On January 3, 2022, it was announced that Love would return to Venturini Motorsports for the majority of the 2022 season, running all of the races where he was eligible. During the season, he earned eight top fives twelve top tens. He would also earn his second career ARCA win at the Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack, leading every lap in a dominating fashion.

Jesse Love
Love driving the number 20 Yahoo car at Daytona in 2023

Love would be upgraded to a full-time schedule with Venturini Motorsports in the 2023 season. That year, Love would have a breakout season, earning ten wins, eighteen top tens, and seventeen top fives. He would ultimately claim the 2023 ARCA Menards Series championship one race early at Salem, after simply taking the green flag.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

2023

On February 9, 2023, it was announced that Love would run three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races for Tricon Garage, driving their No. 1 truck. At Gateway, Love made his debut in the No. 11 truck due to the original driver, Corey Heim, having an illness. Toni Breidinger would drive the 1 truck for that race. Love would end up finishing in the top ten in 9th. He made his second start of the season at Kansas, finishing 13th.

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Jesse Love
Love's No. 2 car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2024.

2024

On October 25, 2023, it was announced that Love would drive full-time for Richard Childress Racing in the No. 2 Chevrolet in 2024, replacing Sheldon Creed. He began the season by winning the pole in his first career start at Daytona. He won the first stage and led a race-high 34 laps, before getting involved in a wreck during stage two. He went on to finish the race in 20th. The following week at Atlanta, Love once again won the pole and went on to have a blistering performance, sweeping both stages and leading 157 of the 163 scheduled laps. The race went into overtime after multiple drivers ran out of fuel with two laps to go. Love sputtered his fuel tank on the final restart, and ultimately fell back to finish 12th. At Phoenix, he had another solid run, and earned a career best 2nd place finish, only behind race winner Chandler Smith. The following four weeks, he continued a streak of top 10 finishes, including his third career pole at Texas. At Talladega, Love scored his first career win, holding off the field on an overtime restart.

Personal life

Love is the son of Elizabeth and Jesshill Love. Jesshill raced midget cars in his youth and is a real estate investor and lawyer. Jesshill is the CEO of three real estate portfolios in California, former president of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, and the CEO of HomeSmiles, a property maintenance company that supports Jesse's racing endeavors.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts Ref
2024 Richard Childress Racing 2 Chevy DAY
ATL
LVS
PHO
COA
RCH
MAR
TEX
TAL
DOV
DAR
CLT
PIR
SON
IOW
NHA
NSH
CSC
POC
IND
MCH
DAY
DAR
ATL
GLN
BRI
KAN
TAL
ROV
LVS
HOM
MAR
PHO
8th 2247

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 NCTC Pts Ref
2023 Tricon Garage 11 Toyota DAY LVS ATL COA TEX BRD MAR KAN DAR NWS CLT GTW
NSH MOH POC RCH IRP MLW 37th 85
1 KAN
BRI TAL HOM PHO

ARCA Menards Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 AMSC Pts Ref
2020 Bill McAnally Racing 19 Toyota DAY PHO
TAL POC IRP KEN IOW
KAN TOL TOL MCH DRC GTW
L44 TOL BRI 26th 139
Venturini Motorsports 20 Toyota WIN
MEM ISF KAN
2021 Bill McAnally Racing 16 Toyota DAY PHO
TAL KAN 10th 386
Venturini Motorsports 15 Toyota TOL
CLT MOH POC ELK
BLN
ISF
MLW
DSF
SLM
KAN
25 IOW
WIN GLN MCH BRI
2022 20 DAY PHO
TAL KAN CLT IOW
BLN
ELK
MOH
POC
IRP
MCH GLN
ISF
MLW
DSF
KAN BRI
SLM
TOL
11th 603
2023 DAY
PHO
TAL
KAN
CLT
BLN
ELK
MOH
IOW
POC
MCH
IRP
GLN
ISF
MLW
DSF
KAN
BRI
SLM
TOL
1st 1057

ARCA Menards Series East

ARCA Menards Series East results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 AMSEC Pts Ref
2020 Bill McAnally Racing 19 Toyota NSM
TOL DOV TOL BRI 20th 70
Venturini Motorsports 15 Toyota FIF
2021 25 NSM FIF NSV DOV
SNM IOW
BRI
11th 132
15 MLW
2022 20 NSM FIF DOV
NSV IOW
MLW
BRI
9th 142
2023 FIF DOV NSV FRS IOW
IRP
MLW
BRI
11th 177

ARCA Menards Series West

ARCA Menards Series West results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AMSWC Pts Ref
2020 Bill McAnally Racing 19 Toyota LVS
MMP
MMP
IRW
EVG
DCS
CNS
LVS
AAS
KCR
PHO
1st 613
2021 16 PHO
SON
IRW
CNS
IRW
PIR
LVS
AAS
PHO
1st 438
2022 Venturini Motorsports 20 Toyota PHO
IRW KCR PIR SON IRW EVG PIR AAS LVS PHO
26th 130
2023 PHO
IRW KCR PIR SON IRW SHA EVG AAS LVS MAD PHO 71st 18