{"id":197261,"date":"2025-10-08T10:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197261\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T10:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:12:14","slug":"jesse-love-on-going-from-high-school-football-to-the-nfl-in-cup-12-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/197261\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesse Love on going from \u2018high school football to the NFL\u2019 in Cup: 12 Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Xfinity Series driver Jesse Love, who has his Richard Childress Racing No. 2 car into the semifinal round of this year\u2019s playoffs. This interview has been edited and condensed, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid, and what do you remember about that moment?<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t remember a time I\u2019ve ever gotten an autograph. I guess maybe in a middle school or elementary school yearbook or something, when it was the thing to go ask your friends to sign your yearbook.<\/p>\n

Do you ask for selfies, or just not anything at all?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve taken one selfie with somebody ever. It was the lead singer for Boston (Tommy DeCarlo). I was on a flight with him earlier this year, a couple months ago. I was like, \u201cCan I get a picture with you?\u201d And he was like, \u201cWhy?\u201d I said, \u201cBecause you\u2019re the lead singer of Boston.\u201d He was like, \u201cOK.\u201d He took the picture with me, and I went on my way.<\/p>\n

2. What is the most miserable you\u2019ve ever been inside of a race car?<\/p>\n

Nashville last year. It was super, super hot. My helmet fan quit working before the start of the race, and about halfway through, my cool shirt quit circulating because everything was getting so hot that all the fans were tripping. So nothing worked. I basically had boiling marks on my back \u2014 I still have a scar on my lower back from it. It killed me, cooked me from the inside out.<\/p>\n

I took water and poured it on my shirt, and it steamed. It was terrible \u2014 it was 104 degrees with the \u201cfeels like\u201d temperature that day.<\/p>\n

3. Outside of racing, what\u2019s your most recent memory of something you got way too competitive about?<\/p>\n

My buddies and I started playing beach volleyball. Me, Brent Crews, Connor (Zilisch), Gavan Boschele, the Baldwin brothers (Jack and Luke), Parker Eatmon \u2014 some friends we hang out with.<\/p>\n

Before that it was pickleball, but for whatever reason beach volleyball gets me really competitive. We\u2019re obviously really bad at it. It\u2019s a hard sport to get good at because it\u2019s so niche.<\/p>\n

4. What do people get wrong about you?<\/p>\n

Toward the end of my ARCA tenure in 2023, I realized I wasn\u2019t very well-liked, so I made a concerted effort in 2024 and into this year to engage more with fans on Twitter and stuff. I feel like I do that more than the average driver. People say, \u201cDon\u2019t care what others say and don\u2019t let that have any impact on what you do.\u201d But I still want to be genuine, and I also realize fans have opinions and shouldn\u2019t just be written off. I want to listen to them.<\/p>\n

When I look back at something like my ARCA interview after I lost Berlin in 2023<\/a> \u2014 I led 197 laps out of 200 and William (Sawalich) moved me with two to go \u2014 I was really pissed. At the time I didn\u2019t see a problem with what I said, but now I look back and sound like a spoiled brat. So I\u2019ve tried to come across in a more mature way.<\/p>\n

5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a 4.89. So we\u2019ll round up \u2014 4.9. Pretty good. I probably don\u2019t tip well enough sometimes, because I forget it prompts you afterward.<\/p>\n

But I like to talk. My favorite thing is meeting people from different places. If the driver has an accent, I ask where they\u2019re from, how they got here. I just like hearing people\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n

6. I\u2019m asking each person a \u201chot topic\u201d question. Last year in the 12 Questions interview, you explained how you got to RCR from Toyota. A year later, what\u2019s the state of Jesse Love? How do you see your career path?<\/p>\n

There are a lot of moving pieces right now. When you\u2019re doing well in Xfinity, the rumor mill spikes up. The fact I\u2019m getting talked about a little on the Cup side is nice \u2014 both by rumor accounts and fans.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a dream forever, so to finally see that light is cool. I\u2019ve progressed a lot over the last two years. Jumping straight to Xfinity from ARCA was a big jump, but I feel like I\u2019ve started to turn the corner in terms of maximizing my car each week. I definitely want to win more races. My stats are really good all around \u2014 lots of second-place finishes, top-fives, the most top-10s in the series \u2014 but it\u2019s hard to win at this level. I feel like we can accomplish that at RCR.<\/p>\n

I feel like I\u2019m well-prepared for a Cup seat. The biggest thing for me was proving I could make lap time in the Cup car, and I can definitely do that (Love has five Cup starts this season). With a couple more races, I can start to execute more and learn the flow of the weekend, and I\u2019ll be really happy.<\/p>\n

\"Jesse<\/p>\n

\n Jesse Love drives during the Cup Series race at Richmond in August. The 20-year-old has made five Cup Series starts this year. (Samuel Corum \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

7. This is my 16th year doing these 12 Questions interviews, so I\u2019m going back to an old question and re-using it: What\u2019s your middle-finger policy on the racetrack?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve probably used it too much. If somebody did it to me, I\u2019d shrug it off. So I\u2019m more prone to using it.<\/p>\n

I always throw deuces out the window if I pass anybody \u2014 I don\u2019t know why, it\u2019s like Michael Jordan talking s\u2014 on the golf course. There\u2019s an advantage to getting in someone\u2019s head on the racetrack.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m probably done (flipping people off) for good. Brandon Jones chewed me out at St. Louis (last month) after I flipped him off. He came and told me what he thought, and I heard him out and apologized.<\/p>\n

8. Other than one of your teammates, name a driver you\u2019d be one of the first to congratulate in victory lane if they won a race.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Connor (Zilisch). He\u2019s my friend, we work out together, we train together, and I love him like a brother. He\u2019s probably the only person.<\/p>\n

But actually, I also went up and congratulated Parker Kligerman after he won. It\u2019s a tightrope to walk because we\u2019re competitors and it\u2019s how far into the killer mindset you want to go, but showing respect isn\u2019t an act of weakness. There are guys I respect and would go congratulate after a win.<\/p>\n

9. How much do you use AI technology, whether for your job or daily life? Are you into ChatGPT or anything?<\/p>\n

I use it daily. It\u2019s hard to catch up to someone who\u2019s using it if you\u2019re not, because AI is like compounding interest \u2014 you can get better at it and learn from it at an exponentially faster rate every day.<\/p>\n

I try to stay up-to-date. I do think it might end the world one day, but at the same time, if you don\u2019t use it, you\u2019ll fall behind.<\/p>\n

10. What is a time in your life that was really challenging, but you\u2019re proud of how you responded to it?<\/p>\n

The last five years, ever since I moved to the East Coast (Love grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area). When I started racing ARCA, I didn\u2019t have immediate success. I struggled, then figured it out.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what it is about me, but it takes me a second to figure things out. Once I do, I can lock in and create repeated success. I did that in ARCA, and even now in Xfinity, I have the understanding of my own ability to learn things, even if I struggle at first. I\u2019m proud of how I\u2019ve attacked the last five years \u2014 started in ARCA, had success, (transitioned to) Xfinity and have become a more well-rounded driver.<\/p>\n

11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take the sport to the next level of popularity?<\/p>\n

For one, the drivers have to be superstars. If an NFL athlete walks in a room, you know it. If a stock car driver walks in, you don\u2019t. I don\u2019t know the exact formula of how you create that, but it starts off with drivers putting effort into it \u2014 and I\u2019d say most drivers don\u2019t. And I think our superstars right now don\u2019t always put in the effort that\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

Second, the culture has to change. It\u2019s become trendy to talk s\u2014 about everything in motorsports, especially NASCAR. There\u2019s a large group out there, and (social media) has enabled this, who will not be satisfied no matter what. I don\u2019t know why that is, and that\u2019s a problem I don\u2019t have a solution for. \u2026<\/p>\n

The final thing is to be genuine to who we are as a sport. Stay the course, don\u2019t try to copy other sports. NASCAR does a good job at that and doesn\u2019t get enough credit for what they do. Yeah, they could listen more to (hardcore) fans and drivers than (casual fans).<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, nobody watches RC (remote-controlled car) racing and everybody watches NASCAR racing because they tune in for the people driving them. It\u2019s about the person behind the wheel. Making the drivers the superstars again is the best way to do that.<\/p>\n

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. The last one was with Carson Hocevar<\/a>. His question for you: With your most recent dip into the Cup Series, what was the biggest shock? For example, when Joey Logano ships you into Turn 1 at Richmond, are you thinking, \u201cMan, I\u2019ve made it\u201d or, \u201cDamn, I can\u2019t wait until I earn my wings?\u201d<\/p>\n

It definitely opened my eyes to why those guys are Cup drivers. I thought going from Xfinity to Cup was like going from college football to the NFL \u2014 but it\u2019s more like high school football to the NFL. It\u2019s not like you\u2019re not racing double the amount of good guys as in Xfinity; you\u2019re racing 35 great drivers. It\u2019s harder than you even think it is. It\u2019s so hard, dude. It\u2019s unreal.<\/p>\n

But once you understand what you\u2019re up against and not expecting it\u2019s going to be a little jump up, you start to get better and make headway. When Joey moved me, I just thought, \u201cI\u2019m gonna go into the next corner and hit him back.\u201d I wasn\u2019t going to chance crashing him, but I wanted to earn respect and also be classy about it.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t bother me because now I realize I\u2019m up against 35 rabid lions on the racetrack. I have a lot of respect for Joey \u2014 he\u2019s a killer. Honestly, it was kind of cool to be raced that hard. It showed he expected he could hit me that hard and not have me crash, so I\u2019ve got that going for me.<\/p>\n

Do you have a question I can ask the next person? It\u2019s supposed to be A.J. Allmendinger.<\/p>\n

(Love said he would think of a question.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Xfinity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-197261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-motorsports","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}