Jesse Love Admits to Short Comings in Debut Season With Richard Childress Despite Boasting a Strong Start

Richard Childress Racing may not be faring well at the Cup level this season. But their Xfinity drivers are definitely pulling the game. No 21 driver Austin Hill has snagged two wins back-to-back in Daytona and Atlanta. Trailing close at his heels is his rookie teammate, Jesse Love, showing wisdom behind the wheels way beyond his years.

At the young age of 19, Love has proven his Xfinity talents in his debut year. After the Las Vegas race, his fortunes took off. He scored a spectacular runner-up finish in Phoenix, followed by 6th and 5th place finishes at COTA and Richmond. Yet Love is bracing himself for high impact in Martinsville.

Jesse Love is apprehensive about the Virginia track

The winner of the Xfinity race in Martinsville this year will be showered in greens. RCR’s rookie driver has a good shot to snag that opportunity which he sealed last weekend in Richmond. The driver of the #2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro finished 5th and secured a spot to compete for the jaw-dropping $100,000 cash bonus.

Yet Jesse Love is dwelling upon Martinsville cautiously, as he detailed his apprehensions before the race. “I feel like I put in a lot of work, me and Danny Stockman [crew chief of the #2] just talked all week about it… I picked up on a lot of things using SMT, of what I can do to make our stuff feel better and drive better and not drive a push into it. Cuz I was tight last week, and I think I made our problem worse… So working on some things this week, and I think that they should pay off,” said Love, explaining the difficulty he has faced with short tracks.

Love has identified subtle differences between ARCA and short-track racing. “When I was doing ARCA races, I couldn’t really do the wrong thing. But you know I’m trying to hustle the thing and make speed. But also I feel like its easy to make problems worse when you hustle really hard on a short track.”

Hence Jesse Love is adopting a far more nuanced approach to the paper clip-shaped track. “For me, the biggest thing is looking at SMT, looking at speed traces, and figuring out what are my patterns…For me, it’s overall in the center. This I learned at Richmond and kind of figured it out halfway through the race…The short-track stuff is locked down on what the technique is.”

Jesse Love’s incredibly meticulous understanding makes him a tough contender for the upcoming race. Coupled with that is his positive mindset.

Love is not bothered by where he finishes in the race

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Jesse Love was literally raised in the world of racing. He stepped inside a vehicle at a tender 5 years of age, driving in quarter midgets. His stock car racing debut was at age 10, in the MavTV Jr. Late Model Series. Over the years he snagged 13 victories in the ARCA Menards Series, becoming the youngest driver at 16 to clinch the ARCA championship title.

So for a guy who is all about racing, trophies matter only so much. After dominating Atlanta and being unable to clinch a top-ten finish, Love was not bothered. “I don’t really care what the result is, right? I just kind of care about the performance, and I was really proud of our guys. They did a phenomenal job. And I did almost a perfect job, right?”

This young prodigy is bound to fire his engines to glory very soon.

Read More: Jesse Love Vouches to Take Aggression Up a Notch After Suffering Dire Consequences at Daytona