Richard Childress Racing Tests Reigning Champion at COTA

The sponsor of Love will be C4. Of course, the team must lock down a sponsor to get Love in the race. C4 is based in Austin, Texas. That makes more logical sense as to why Love races here, more so than any calculated strategy to give him experience on a road course. He previously raced for C4 in the No. 62 at Texas Motor Speedway last year.

Jesse Love Takes On Circuit of the Americas

Next week will be the 6th career Cup Series start for Jesse Love. This will be his first at a road or street course setup. In his five races in 2025, Love had zero top 10 finishes. His best finish was P24 at the Brickyard 400. Those five races that occurred at Bristol, Texas, Indianapolis, Kansas, and Richmond.

The success story of Love is most recently in the O'Reilly Series. He surprised many by winning the O'Reilly Series with an elite effort at Phoenix.

In his two-year O'Reilly Series career, Love has run 67 total races with 3 victories, 16 top 5 finishes, and 41 top 10 finishes.

So, how does Love match up with road courses? Average can be his status. Love is technically the worst at road courses with an average finish of 15.4. However, in two street-course races, Love has one top-5 finish and both finishes in the top 10.

Despite some hype that can be expected for Love next week, he will not be enough to prove any threat to Zilisch and SVG, and they will likely go toe-to-toe for victory lane.

Jesse Love in 2027?

The question that will linger all year is the Richard Childress Racing Cup Series roster. Austin Dillon has previously confirmed that his contract runs through 2026. Despite being the nephew of Richard Childress, he can surely get the boot for the No. 3 car. Childress is ruthless, and he desires to win. If Love gives him a better chance, he may get that ride.

The same story goes for Kyle Busch. He is reported to be in the final year of his contract. Even more likely than Dillon, Busch could be gone. The rumors about next year or retirement run deep, but that is a story for another time.

When it comes down to it, the likelihood that one of these two cars will be available is quite high. The team gives Love Cup Series repetitions for a reason. If he can put out solid results this season, he will prove worthy of a ride in 2027, and surely, he will get it.