RCR Recruit Jesse Love Proves to Be the Superior Rookie With Shane Van Gisbergen Falling Short at the Xfinity Qualifying

Jesse Love has won his first-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series pole at the Daytona International Speedway. Due to the imminent threat of rain, we only got a single round of qualifying, which will see Love take the pole position in his debut race in Xfinity, for Richard Childress Racing. The teenager clocked an impressive average speed of 181.079 mph, which was enough to beat his teammate, Austin Hill (in P2), and another promising rookie.

Yes, we are talking about the Kiwi speedster, Shane Van Gisbergen, who did well but could only muster a top-five spot. His teammates from Kaulig Racing, A. J. Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman, will be lining up behind the two RCR cars in P3 and P4, respectively. Considering that SVG was one of the favorites heading into the race because of his 2023 record at NASCAR, Jesse Love sure took him and many of the other drivers by surprise.

Dream start for Jesse Love at Daytona

The reigning ARCA Menards Series champion will be leading the grid for the NASCAR Xfinity season’s opener race at Daytona International Speedway. Love was among the 44-car lineup attempting to qualify for the main event in troublesome weather conditions. The rain did alter the schedule for the day, but luckily they were able to put in one round of qualifying, where team RCR made the most of it.

Austin Hill could have claimed pole, but Love piped him by the finest of margins. Hill clocked the best timing of 49.705, while Love outpaced him with his 49.702, with not even a 100th of a second separating them. This will be Love’s first-ever race in the Xfinity Series, and going into the race in pole position is indeed a dream come true moment for the 19-year-old.

The young driver was elated about his achievement after the qualifying. He said, “Thank you to RCR. We got a big steam under the hood. Our RCR cars are just bad-fast here – all superspeedways in fact. I’m just super grateful for the opportunity and I’m really blessed to be in this position.”

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Meanwhile, after overcoming his ARCA debacle, Shane Van Gisbergen is feeling pretty good about himself after securing a top-five position on the grid.

SVG shrugs off his ARCA disappointment

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It was going to be a hectic day for Van Gisbergen, who had both ARCA and Xfinity duties to fulfill. After the ARCA race was moved a day ahead, we saw the three-time Supercars champion struggle during the feature. He was involved in a multi-car wreck and ended up finishing 29th. Fortunately, he turned the tides back in his favor during the Xfinity qualifying round and will look to build on this momentum.

Taking to X, he wrote, “Last night was a bit of an adventure! Unfortunately made a mistake in @ARCA_Racing quali and missed the draft, so started far back. Got through a few but didn’t last long in the race, slowed to miss a pile-up but got slammed from behind. Onto Xfinity today, starting P5! 😀👍.”

As far as the status of the race is concerned, nothing can be said for certain as rain clouds are looming over the Daytona International Speedway. But which rookie will you be rooting for?

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