![\"Jesse](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762377670_810_jesse-love-richard-childress-r.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy the end of Tuesday night, Connor Zilisch and Jesse Love were performing a duet of \u2018Sweet Caroline\u2019 at the NASCAR Awards afterparty but there was a little awkwardness to get past following the events of Saturday\u2019s Xfinity Series championship race.<\/p>\n
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Zilisch was the most dominant driver of the season, delivering 10 wins, 20 top-5s and 23 top-10s in 32 races, having missed one for a broken collarbone after winning at Watkins Glen. His season was so dominant, that even missing a race, he still outscored everyone else in points with one fewer race.<\/p>\n
So when Love, his best friend, a de facto brother and former roommate, passed him to win the championship with only one prior victory in the season, it created an emotional whirlwind for everyone involved.<\/p>\n
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Zilisch was more or less robbed by the championship format, in the final year that NASCAR will use the final four format, and it left him very emotional in victory lane and in the hours afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve come to terms with what\u2019s happened,\u201d Zilisch said on Tuesday during a media availability before the Awards Show. \u201cAnd at this point, I can\u2019t do anything about it, so there\u2019s no reason to hang on to it. I mean, it\u2019s life. Sun came up Sunday morning, and the world kept spinning.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the days since, Zilisch has started to reconcile the body of work of his season compared to the end results of the one-race final showdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I did everything I could,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cAnd my team, the whole JR Motorsports group, we gave our all, and I don\u2019t have any reason to be upset about what happened. Yeah, it stings. It sucks. But yeah, we did everything we could and we tried our best. If I walked out of that place knowing that I could have done something differently, then I probably would have been a little more upset. But I gave it my all. I did everything I could, and yeah, the result wasn\u2019t meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Zilisch did greet and hug Love in Victory Lane, but did not go back to the house they rented in Scottsdale with some friends of theirs this weekend, before finally talking on Sunday when they checked into the hotel for the championship awards show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a, not a heart-to-heart, but just wanted to know what he thought about it,\u201d Love said. \u201cI just talked to him about it, because it would be awkward if we didn\u2019t address it, so once we did, it was a good conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to share we said, but it was a good conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zilisch did share the contents of the conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did nothing wrong,\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cHe asked me, he\u2019s like, \u2018are you mad at me?\u2019 And I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t have any reason to be mad at you, dude. You\u2019re not the one who created the situation. You just executed when you needed to.\u2019 And I have no reason to be upset about that. Yeah, I celebrated with him and we had fun. I mean, it\u2019s just part of it. I have no reason to be upset with him and hold it against him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Jesse Love, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet<\/p>\n
Photo by: Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Zilisch got a lot of words and texts of support after Saturday too.<\/p>\n
\u201cKyle Larson texted me (on Saturday),\u201d Zilisch said. \u201cAnd he just said, \u2018This isn\u2019t going to change your career. I know it sucks.\u2019 And you know, he wrote me a nice message. Denny texted me that night, kind of similar. So yeah, I mean, there was a few people that reached out that it means a lot to hear from. Everybody I saw was really nice to me all weekend long. And it helps to have people who let you know that you still succeeded. But at the end of the day, the emotion is still the same. But yeah, it\u2019s good to have that kind of peace of mind that people still believe in me and that that wasn\u2019t really a life-changing moment for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And really, Sunday in the Cup race was kind of a repeat of sorts in that Denny Hamlin led the most laps and dominated the finale, after a season in which he posted the most wins, but a late caution created overtime where really close friend Kyle Larson beat him on a pit strategy decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s different because Connor had the standout, history making season, where I don\u2019t think there was like one standout in Cup, at least in my opinion, right,\u201d Love said. \u201cBut I do kind of feel like I understand a little of what that was like.\u201d<\/p>\n
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