Jesse Love, driver of the #2 Whelen Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 01, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
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Jesse Love is only 20 years old, and he is already a Nascar champion.
The Richard Childress Racing sophomore captured the 2025 Xfinity Series championship on Saturday evening, bringing RCR back on top for the first time since 2019.
“It’s a big deal; I’ve worked at this my whole life,” Love said. “To get it how we did – winning the race and being dominant – feels really good.”
Love won Saturday’s Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway defeating championship favorite (and his best friend) Connor Zilisch in the process. Zilisch, who had a 10-win season, finished third. The other two Championship 4 competitors also came from the JR Motorsports shop, as the powerhouse organization had three of the four drivers for the second time in four seasons.
Despite having past success at Phoenix, the odds weren’t in Love’s favor. However, he bookended the year with victories after winning the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. He also crossed the finish line first in Nascar’s return to Rockingham Speedway in April, but was later disqualified.
“It’s always special when you’re driving for a historic team,” Love said of winning with RCR. “Me and Richard have started to get closer over the last six to eight months, and we’re more like friends with each other. Winning for him is super special, and it’s something I’ll definitely never forget.”
Love had a solid, consistent 2025 campaign. He earned nine top fives and 22 top 10s, with an average finish of 11.1, with the latter two statistics ranking second in the series to Zilisch.
“I’ve been on a journey of just trying to be better than yesterday,” Love said in an honest reflection of his rapid growth. “Every day, I’m waking up, putting in the work, and trying to push the needle to get better. There are a lot of days you don’t feel like it’s going to pay off, but I’ve always believed in the process and the work ethic. There’s a lot of relief to know it paid off.”
Ahead of the 2024 season, RCR signed Love to replace Sheldon Creed in the No. 2 Chevrolet, which has a full season sponsorship from Whelen. Creed ended his RCR tenure with a dispute between him and teammate Austin Hill at the end of the 2023 campaign at Martinsville Speedway, the same week that Love was announced to take over the ride.
Love, who was 18 at the time, emerged as a candidate from the ride even though he was competing only in the ARCA Menards Series – Nascar’s version of Single-A – with a Toyota-backed team, Venturini Motorsports. But team owner Richard Childress eyed the prospect, who won 10 races en route to the 2023 championship.
Now, just two years later, Love’s entire life has changed, he explained.
“The phone starts ringing in different ways and people start looking at you differently,” he said. “It’s super important and super special. It can really set you up for life. I feel much more confident in myself and my job.
“I’m not getting too far ahead of myself, but I know my life has changed a lot.”
Whelen, just a week before the championship race, announced it will continue to be the lead partner for Love’s No. 2 Chevrolet. Love said he initially signed a three-year deal with RCR, and the Whelen extension is a sign that his diligence has the support of the firm.
“We take a lot of pride at RCR with managing our partnerships and cultivating that relationship,” Love said. “It’s really cool for me, as well, knowing I’ve done a really good job with Whelen.”
In the midst of Love’s championship campaign, RCR entered him in his first Nascar Cup Series races this year. He competed in five events in both a third RCR entry and with Beard Motorsports, scoring a best finish of 24th with Beard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And Love’s Cup races came with a sponsor new to Nascar, C4 Energy, a sign of his growing marketability.
“More important than anything, I understand where I have some cracks in my own performance,” Love said of what his Cup experience taught him. “Those guys bring out the worst in you and show you what your weaknesses are. I felt like I was able to make some big leaps after I ran the Cup car because I stacked myself up against the best, and I went home with a lot more things to work on.”
Beyond attempting to defend the championship, Love has not announced his 2026 Cup schedule. However, he wants to “hopefully have more [races] than I ran this year.” Among his primary goals is to reach the Cup Series sooner rather than later on a full-time basis.
Next year, the series will be coined the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and Love will seek to be the first winner of that title.