Jesse Love Captures Win and Championship at Phoenix

Jesse Love captures the win and championship in Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix. (Photo: Michael Donahue | The Podium Finish)

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Jesse Love won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway to score his first-ever NASCAR national series championship.

In just his second year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Love passed Connor Zilisch for the lead and eventual victory with just 24 laps remaining to claim the title.

“I just feel so clean, relieved,” said Love. ” It’s been a tough year for me, and I’ve just put so much work into it. It really hasn’t set it yet. I tried to just tune out all the emotion. It doesn’t feel real.”

Looking back at the pass on Zilisch for the lead that ultimately won the championship, Love said he knew it was time to go and that he needed to complete the pass in Turns 3 and 4.

Jesse Love will always remember the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race for his win and title at Phoenix. (Photo: Michael Donahue | The Podium Finish)

“Yeah, he’s (Zilisch) my best friend in the whole world, but not when we’re racing each other,” Love said. “We race each other hard, but fair. I knew I had to take it there. I knew he was going to put it on my door, and I knew I had to throttle up and just try to get my nose ahead.”

The victory was the second of the season for Love and his first since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. On the season, Love scored nine top fives and 22 top 10 finishes.

It’s not often anybody has had a better car than Zilisch this year, especially since May, but Love knew he did tonight and had to make it count.

“My car was just better tonight,” Love said. “It allowed me to roll the center and get off the corner better.”

Despite a record-setting season, Zilisch finished the race in third place and second in the overall point standings.

Jesse Love and his No. 2 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet fielded by Richard Childress Racing prevailed at Phoenix. (Photo: Michael Donahue | The Podium Finish)

“I came into the weekend and I told my entire team, ‘we got to give it our 100% this week, and as long as we walk out of this place knowing we did that, I’ll be proud of us,”  Zilisch said. “We did that today, we fought all day long and threw everything we had at it. Unfortunately, we just didn’t quite have what we needed.”

It was an emotional scene for Zilisch after getting out of his No. 88 car for the final time, which was prompted by how well his team worked and performed this season.

“It’s just, you work all year long and you bust your ass for 33 weeks,” said Zilisch. I feel like we did the best job we could all year long. We just didn’t have it today.”

Justin Allgaier finished in the fifth position, placing him third in the championship. Even after coming up short of defending his title, Allgaier felt like he and his No. 7 team were able to maximize their race, but just didn’t have enough for Love.

“Just felt like we did all the right things tonight, and we still came out of here really short,” said Allgaier. “So, disappointing. Just bummed the way that it ended, but we’re so blessed to do this and be here. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”

Connor Zilisch finished runner-up in the championship fight at Phoenix Raceway after a historic season. (Photo: Michael Donahue | The Podium Finish)

It was also the last race together for Allgaier and Jim Pohlman, as he heads to Richard Childress Racing to serve as Kyle Busch’s crew chief in 2026.

“I wanted to send Jim Pohlman off with another championship,” Allgaier said. “He’s been an amazing part of this journey and got me my championship last year.”

The fourth and final finisher of the Championship 4 was fellow JR Motorsports driver, Carson Kvapil, who finished in 13th place.

Overall, JR Motorsports, which won 17 of the 33 races this season, was shut out from both the driver’s and owner’s championships. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 team clinched the owner’s title from Aric Almirola’s second-place finish.

With the conclusion of the season, it also officially marked the end of Xfinity’s 11-year run as the title sponsor for NASCAR’s second-tier series, as it will be rebranded to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2026.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Taylor Gray
2. Sheldon Creed
3. Justin Allgaier
4. Connor Zilisch
5. Nick Sanchez
6. Carson Kvapil
7. Kyle Sieg
8. Aric Almirola
9. Sammy Smith
10. Brandon Jones

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Justin Allgaier
2. Connor Zilisch
3. Aric Almirola
4. Sheldon Creed
5. Jesse Love
6. Taylor Gray
7. Nick Sanchez
8. Brandon Jones
9. Carson Kvapil
10. Ryan Sieg

NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway Finishing Results