Jesse Love on NASCAR Cup Series future as champion – Sports News
Jesse Love is ready patiently to step up to the NASCAR Cup Series (Image: Getty)
For Jesse Love, persistence is the title of the sport. He is aware of he’s destined for the NASCAR Cup Series; it’s simply a matter of when.
“Yeah, definitely,” he replies with confidence when requested if he’s prepared. “I feel like I’m prepared and ready to move to a Cup seat whenever the opportunity opens itself up to me.
“I don’t plan on running at 30 here in the O’Reilly Series. I plan on moving up to the Cup level.
“So for me right now, it’s just about figuring out where that’s going to be. My motivation right now is to set myself up for the best Cup ride possible.”
This weekend, he will get a style of the expertise he craves – racing on Sunday.
He’ll be pulling double obligation at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), driving the No. 33 C4 Ultimate Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing within the Cup Series race.
Love is back within the No.33 RCR car within the Cup Series this weekend (Image: Getty)
“Cup racing is definitely a big challenge,” he admits. “It’s very tough and you have to do it every week to really have something to build off of.
“But I love driving the car itself. I feel like it all makes sense to me and I feel like I make good speed in the car.
“So the tough part is the race craft of it and figuring it all out. It’s just like anything, you have to get enough races under your belt where you can start to build on something of substance.”
It is no shock Love is eyeing the following step, given he has already conquered the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He received final yr’s Championship with a masterful drive in Phoenix, beating firm favourite and close buddy Connor Zilisch.
“It felt really great in the moment for me, my whole team, my whole family, all the sponsors, Whelan, and all of our partners the whole year,” Love remembers.
Love received the Xfinity Series Championship final season in dramatic fashion (Image: Getty)
“Obviously, as a friend, you feel for Connor. But at the end of the day, I want to win, and I don’t really care who I have to go through to accomplish that, even if they are my friends.
“So there was a little bit of, you kind of have to play both roles of being an athlete and wanting to win, while at the same time, being there for your friend, and whatever emotions he had with it.
“I was super pumped for the whole team, the whole group, and me and Connor obviously worked it out, and there were no hard feelings.”
While lacking out on the Championship posed an emotional problem for Zilisch as he stepped up to the Cup Series full-time, it additionally posed an emotional problem for Love as he stays put.
“Yeah, it always feels great,” Love says of being the defending champion. “But I think that there’s kind of a two-part compartmentalization you have to have.
“First part is you’ve got to kind of roll with the confidence that it gives you going into the season, right? Use it as a positive.
“But it can become a negative if you let it get you complacent. So I’m a little bit detached from the championship now, just because I kind of have to reset back to zero so I can get the best out of myself.”
“Yeah, it always feels great,” Love says of being the defending champion. “But I think that there’s kind of a two-part compartmentalization you have to have.
“First part is you’ve got to kind of roll with the confidence that it gives you going into the season, right? Use it as a positive.
“But it can become a negative if you let it get you complacent. So I’m a little bit detached from the championship now, just because I kind of have to reset back to zero so I can get the best out of myself.”
This yr, he has new challengers. Among them is one other close buddy, Brent Crews, half of the identical tight-knit group as him and Zilisch, who’ve grown up collectively.
“Brent’s going to do phenomenal things in the sport,” Love says. “He’s a very talented young man and a really great friend of mine. I’m looking forward to seeing what Brent does.
“His career path at this point, through his development process, I don’t think there’s ever been a better development for a driver than there has been for Brent.
“With the style of cars that he’s driven, with the amount of different disciplines he’s driven in, how young he is as well, he’ll do great things.”
Love is hoping to defend his championship within the No.2 car (Image: Getty)
And Love is anticipating Crews’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, as nicely as his own RCR teammate, Austin Hill, and 2024 champion Justin Allgaier, to take the combat to him underneath the new format.
Love says: “I do think that Brent could be a contender, maybe not in the points, right? He’s going to have some peaks and valleys along the way.
“But Allgaier is going to be good just about everywhere you go. My teammate Austin Hill is going to be tough to beat.
“And I think that JGR is going to take a step forward this year, having some more full-time guys. And William Swalich and Taylor Gray will most likely both be competitive.”
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