Jesse Love continues his strong start in 2025 with a pole for Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Atlanta. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
HAMPTON, Ga. — Jesse Love is finding life at age 20 is filled with success aplenty.
A week removed from winning a rousing season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Love reminded the field of his penchant of dropping the hammer. History repeated itself as Love secured his first pole of the NASCAR XFINITY Series season at Atlanta, duplicating his feat of a year ago with a time of 31.73 seconds or 174.724 mph.
Prior to tallying his sixth career XFINITY Series pole, Love reflected on his big victory at “The World Center of Racing” just a week ago.
“It’s a huge morale boost for everyone on the No. 2 Whelen team,” Love said in a team press release. “Getting them a win, what they deserve, is the number one goal each week. I’m very proud to be a part of a winning organization. Winning at Daytona was probably the most surreal moment of my life and probably will be for a little bit.”
Regardless of where a driver comes from, whether it is Menlo Park, California, or Boston, winning at Daytona elicits strong emotions and ranks highly in a racer’s resume.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway for Love aside from capturing the victory at Daytona was learning to be insatiable. In the highly competitive world of NASCAR, tenacity counts for something even after capturing the checkered flag.
“Last season when I won my first race at Talladega, I was so elated that maybe I took the next few months off per se and got complacent with thinking it was easier than it was,” he recalled. “We struggled after that win last year and I feel like I know now even after what is the biggest win of my career, that is still just as hard to win the next one.
“Danny Stockman [crew chief] gave me some advice before we left the racetrack on Saturday night. He told me to ‘go soak it up these next few days and celebrate, but you still have to work just as hard to keep up the intensity level.’ I appreciate that advice to stay in the game, stay in the hunt if you will.”
Last Saturday evening, Love stayed in contention, biding his time and waiting until the crucial moments to strike for the lead and victory.
Jesse Love dropped the hammer for the second spring race in a row at Atlanta. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
Now, with a unique hybrid venue like Atlanta awaiting Love and a frantic field this Saturday, the Richard Childress Racing driver knows this track requires a total team effort along with meticulous attention with an aging track surface.
“While Atlanta is a drafting track, it’s so different than Daytona or Talladega,” Love observed. “They’re not the same beast and you have a much different style at each place. Even the package we bring is somewhat different.
“I’ve been studying film and watching races from last season to see what I could do better. Atlanta is a huge plus for our No. 2 team, because Danny has found a way to make our car even better than everyone else.”
If there is anything Love learned with his performance in last year’s Atlanta spring race, it is not just about dominating but how to execute in the moments that count.
“Last year was probably the most dominant car I’ve ever had in my career,” Love said. “It drove really well and did all the things right. Hopefully, we will get to qualify on Friday, start up front, control the race, and save more fuel than I did last year. We put in a lot of effort this offseason to figure out how I can save fuel efficiently and not do it as sporadically.
For a driver as young as Love, this student of stock car racing hopes all his studying and preparation results in another A+ effort at Atlanta.
“At some point during the race, we are going to lose track position and will have to make it up,” he observed. “We have been looking at stuff to think outside the box of how to pass cars and not go the cookie cutter slide job route
“Eventually, people are going to catch on to it, so I’m working on a notebook of different passes that I can get through the field with if needed.”
