Jesse Love's Talladega win an example of a young driver wise beyond his years
In a race that his teammate dominated, Jesse Love came out the other side of double overtime with a checkered flag in hand.
While Love had shown race-winning speed at both Daytona and Atlanta earlier in the season, he ended up losing both races to his teammate Austin Hill, who has proven to be the best superspeedway racer in the series since his rookie season in 2022.
While Hill won Stage Two and led 41 laps on the day, he was a victim of Talladega just being Talladega. A late incident relegated Hill to a 14th-place finish and kept that coveted Talladega trophy out of his trophy case.
Despite Love being just 19 years old and in his rookie season, the 2023 ARCA champion was cool as a cucumber in the closing laps, holding off challenges from the likes of Brennan Poole and Riley Herbst to cruise to a first career win that he won't forget anytime soon. After losing a heartbreaker at Atlanta due to fuel mileage, Love saved just enough gas on Saturday afternoon to cross the line first.
"It's been a journey just to get to this point," Love said to Fox's Regan Smith. "I had PTSD flashbacks from Atlanta."
"My team made some phenomenal moves. We fought. I made some moves early where I was like, 'What are you doing, dummy?' Just a phenomenal car. I'm ready to go celebrate."
While a 19-year-old breaking through for a victory certainly isn't unheard of in modern-day NASCAR, Love winning in the second-tier series at such a young age is another example of his raw talent and smart driving making him look like a seasoned veteran on the racetrack.
Love has been a top-three driver in all three superspeedway races this season, and it took the best superspeedway driver in the series, his teammate Hill, to beat him at Daytona and Atlanta.
On Saturday, Love took advantage of his teammate's misfortune and closed the deal.
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