Jesse Love
Jesshill Michael Gregory Love Jr. is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, driving the No. 2 Chevrolet SS for Richard Childress Racing. He has previously competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the ARCA Menards Series.
Love currently holds two records: He is the youngest winner ever in the ARCA Menards Series West, and the youngest winner ever in any NASCAR-sanctioned event, both at 15 years, 5 months, and 13 days. He is also the youngest driver to win a NASCAR sanctioned championship, having won the ARCA Menards Series West championship in 2020 at age 15. He also won the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in 2025, the ARCA West championship in 2021, and the ARCA Menards Series championship in 2023.
Racing career
Early career
Love began racing at age five. Early in his career, he drove in the Quarter Midgets of America Series, where he won multiple races and championships before turning ten years old. He then went on to win championships in three different divisions of USAC in the same year, becoming the first driver to accomplish that. At the age of thirteen, Love, competing for Naake-Klauer Motorsports, was granted an age waiver to compete in the RPM Pro Late Model Series by Madera Speedway track promoter Kenny Shepherd due to his talent in the 51Fifty Energy Drink Jr. Late Model Series the prior year. In 2018, Love drove full-time in the INEX Legend Car Racing Series, winning five of the eight races on the schedule en route to that series' championship. The other series he raced in that year were the BCRA Midget Series and the Hunt Magneto Sprint Car Series, both of whom Love had to apply for an age exception to participate in. Love drove for Keith Kunz Motorsports in the SRL Southwest Tour, a late model racing series, in 2019.ARCA
On January 14, 2020, it was announced that Love would run full-time and for rookie of the year in the ARCA Menards Series West in the No. 19 Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing. He replaced Hailie Deegan in that car, who left the McAnally team and Toyota's driver development program to join Ford's driver development program, running full-time in the twenty-race ARCA Menards Series for DGR-Crosley.After finishing second in the season-opener at Las Vegas Bullring, Love won his first West Series race in the first of the two races in the doubleheader at the Utah Motorsports Campus road course on June 27. It was just his second start in the series.
In addition, Love and his BMR teammates would compete in the ten races of the twenty-race ARCA Menards Series' Sioux Chief Showdown. He made his debut in the first Showdown race at Phoenix Raceway on March 6. A few weeks earlier, Love and his teammates also made their debut in the ARCA Menards Series East at New Smyrna; Love finished twelfth.
Love finished the 2020 ARCA West season with three wins and nine top-five finishes in eleven races en route to the championship, beating out season-long rival Blaine Perkins. He became the youngest West Series champion at just fifteen years, nine months, and 24 days old.
In 2021, Love returned to BMR for his second season in the West Series, and moved from the No. 19 to the No. 16, replacing Gio Scelzi with the team condensing from four full-time cars to two and the No. 19 car being closed down. He also returned to Venturini Motorsports for a nine-race schedule in the main ARCA Menards Series as well as one non-combination race in the East Series. In both series, he drove the No. 25. He earned his first career win of the season at Salem Speedway, outdueling Ty Gibbs in a restart with 46 laps to go.
On January 3, 2022, it was announced that Love would return to Venturini Motorsports for the majority of the 2022 season, running all of the races where he was eligible. During the season, he earned eight top fives and twelve top tens. He would also earn his second career ARCA win at the Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack, leading every lap in a dominating fashion.
Love would be upgraded to a full-time schedule with Venturini Motorsports in the 2023 season. That year, Love would have a breakout season, earning ten wins, eighteen top-tens, and seventeen top-fives. He would ultimately claim the 2023 ARCA Menards Series championship one race early at Salem, after simply taking the green flag.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
2023
On February 9, 2023, it was announced that Love would run three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races for Tricon Garage, driving their No. 1 truck. At Gateway, Love made his debut in the No. 11 truck due to the original driver, Corey Heim, having an illness. Toni Breidinger would drive the No. 1 truck for that race. Love would end up finishing in the top-ten in ninth. He made his second start of the season at Kansas, finishing thirteenth.NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series
2024
On October 25, 2023, it was announced that Love would drive full-time for Richard Childress Racing in the No. 2 Chevrolet in 2024, replacing Sheldon Creed. He began the season by winning the pole in his first career start at Daytona. He won the first stage and led a race-high 34 laps, before getting involved in a wreck during stage two. He went on to finish the race in twentieth. The following week at Atlanta, Love once again won the pole and went on to have a blistering performance, sweeping both stages and leading 157 of the 163 scheduled laps. The race went into overtime after multiple drivers ran out of fuel with two laps to go. Love sputtered his fuel tank on the final restart, and ultimately fell back to finish twelfth. At Phoenix, he had another solid run, and earned a career best second place finish, only behind race winner Chandler Smith. The following four weeks, he continued a streak of top-ten finishes, including his third career pole at Texas. At Talladega, Love scored his first career win, holding off the field on an overtime restart.2025: Xfinity Series champion
Love started the 2025 season with a win at Daytona. Two months later, he won at Rockingham, but was disqualified after failing post race inspection; as a result, Sammy Smith was declared the winner. Love stayed consistent throughout the playoffs until he won at Phoenix to claim the Xfinity Series championship.NASCAR Cup Series
On March 28, 2025, it was announced that Love would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Bristol Motor Speedway for RCR, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet. Love started 19th and finished 31st five laps down. On April 16, it was announced that Love will drive for Beard Motorsports in the No. 62 at Texas Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.Other racing
Super2 Series
On October 2025, it was revealed that Love would make his debut in the Super2 Series at the Adelaide Street Circuit, driving a Holden Commodore ZB for Image Racing in an alliance with Erebus Motorsport and Richard Childress Racing.Personal life
Love is the son of Elizabeth and Jesshill Love. Jesshill raced midget cars in his youth and is a real estate investor and lawyer. Jesshill is the CEO of three real estate portfolios in California, former president of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Entrepreneurs' Organization, and the CEO of HomeSmiles, a property maintenance company that supports Jesse's racing endeavors.Love is of partial Mexican descent through his mother, who was raised in Mexico City.
Motorsports career results
Career summary
† As Love was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.NASCAR
Cup Series
O'Reilly Auto Parts Series
Craftsman Truck Series
Season still in progressIneligible for series points