The Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway has set the tone for this entire 2025 NASCAR season. Remember how Parker Kligerman won the race just to be stripped of it later by DQ? Corey Heim was crowned the winner. But the history was repeated recently in the Xfinity series. Jesse Love’s joy was short-lived. Just when he thought that a second Xfinity Series win was in the bag, NASCAR snatched away the triumph after the No. 2 Chevy failed post-race inspection.

The North Carolina Education Lottery 250 was a chaotic race, but few expected that the drama would continue hours after the checkered flag was waved. Unfortunately for Richard Childress Racing driver, Lady Luck wasn’t on his side, as he will now be forced to give his winner’s trophy back. The post-race inspection outcome didn’t go down well with certain sections of the fanbase, who didn’t hesitate to share their thoughts on social media. Could Richard Childress Racing appeal NASCAR’s verdict? Time will tell.

Jesse Love jokes about returning the Rockingham Speedway trophy

Heartbreaking. That’s the best way to describe Jesse Love’s disqualification at Rockingham Speedway. Despite leading 53 laps and stretching his fuel to the limit, and surviving late race shakeups, the 20-year-old didn’t manage to win his first non-superspeedway race. Instead, Sammy Smith will be awarded the triumph, even though Love passed him in the overtime restart to cross the checkered flag first.

According to NASCAR, Jesse Love violated rule 14.14.2.1- 5. H, which states that “All mating surfaces between the truck trailing arm and the U-bolt saddle must be in complete contact with each other.” As a result, the California native has now been disqualified and will finish 37th. After the news became public, Love quickly took to social media and joked about not giving back his trophy, writing, “Good thing my house has a safe.”

It’s not the first time this season that a race winner in one of NASCAR’s three national series has been disqualified after the post-race inspection. Parker Kligerman, who originally won the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, was stripped of his triumph, with Corey Heim inheriting the win instead. Love wasn’t the only driver disqualified from the Rockingham race either, as Justin Bonsignore suffered the same fate after NASCAR found loose lug nuts in his car.

Explaining NASCAR’s decision, Xfinity Series director Eric Peterson said, “At the end of the race in the post-race teardown, #2 car of Jesse Love for RCR failed post-race inspection.” Citing the rule about mating surfaces needing to be in contact with each other, he went on to say, “Unfortunately, that was not the case when we did the teardown of the #2 car and they were disqualified.” As for Smith, who was at the center of controversy in Martinsville, he will get his first triumph of the season, the third of his Xfinity Series career so far.

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Fans infuriated by NASCAR’s post-race verdict

As expected, it didn’t take long for NASCAR fans to voice their dissatisfaction at Jesse Love’s victory being taken away in a lengthy post-race inspection. According to one fan, the delayed verdict took away the joy from post-race celebrations, saying, “Well, that blows. Was so happy for him, now the whole race was for nothing. Ugh.” Echoing that sentiment, another motorsports enthusiast said that confirmed results right after the checkered flag should be the norm in NASCAR, writing, “This whole 4 hours later thing really s—-.”

While inspections are meant to ensure that all drivers are competing on a level playing field, one X user was confused about how the rear suspension infringement was not caught before the Rockingham Speedway race began. They wrote, “What crap, I go to a race see a finish and learn hours later that it has a different winner, how was that not seen in pre race inspection? What total b——-.” Another NASCAR fan, who was disillusioned by the race’s outcome, went on to suggest a drastic measure, writing, “Remove the inspection of the cars, it ruined the race 😡😤🤬.”

That fan wasn’t the only one. Another X user believes that Jesse Love being stripped of his victory may be because of more sinister reasons and went on to share the conspiracy theory on social media. The fan said, “We need to get rid of post-race inspections. everyone is tired of this retarded s—. no point in even watching the races anymore. A car that is cleared to race is cleared to win. end of story. Enough of this post race corruption of nascar fixing the races for gambling.”