Jesse Love

Jesse Love Jr. (born January 14, 2005) is an American stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series West in Bill McAnally Racing's No. 16 Toyota. He also competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East, driving the No. 25 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports.

Jesse Love
Love at New Smyrna Speedway in 2020
Nationality American
BornJesse Love Jr.
(2005-01-14) January 14, 2005
Menlo Park, California
ARCA Menards Series West career
Debut season2020
Current teamBill McAnally Racing
Car number16
EngineToyota
Crew chiefTBA
Starts11
Championships1
Wins3
Last updated on: January 29, 2021.

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.

Racing 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 age 13, 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 which he won another championship). 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.[1] Love drove for Keith Kunz Motorsports in the SRL Southwest Tour, a late model racing series, in 2019.[2]

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.[3] 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 20-race ARCA Menards Series for DGR-Crosley.[4]

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.[5]

In addition, Love and his BMR teammates would compete in the ten races of the 20-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 3 wins and 9 top 5 finishes in 11 races en route to the championship, beating out season-long rival Blaine Perkins. He became the youngest West Series champion at just 15 years, 9 months, and 24 days old.[6][7]

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 (including all three combination races with the ARCA Menards Series East) as well as one non-combination race in the East Series (at Dover). In both series, he drove the No. 25.[8]

Motorsports career results

ARCA Menards Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 AMSC Pts Ref
2020 Bill McAnally Racing 19 Toyota DAY PHO
16		 TAL POC IRP KEN IOW
12		 KAN TOL TOL MCH DAY GTW
5		 L44 TOL BRI 26th 139 [9]
Venturini Motorsports 20 Toyota WIN
4		 MEM ISF KAN

ARCA Menards Series East
ARCA Menards Series East results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 AMSEC Pts Ref
2020 Bill McAnally Racing 19 Toyota NSM
12		 TOL DOV TOL BRI 20th 70 [10]
Venturini Motorsports 15 Toyota FIF
6

ARCA Menards Series West
ARCA Menards Series West results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 AMSWC Pts Ref
2020 Bill McAnally Racing 19 Toyota LVS
2		 UMC
1*		 UMC
2		 IRW
1*		 EVG
4		 DCS
3		 CNS
1*		 LVS
3		 AAS
4		 KCR
8		 PHO
14		 1st 613 [11]

References
  1. "13 Year Old Racing Phenom Jesse Love Earns Age Exemption for RPM Pro Late Model Series". Newswire. August 23, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  2. Seelman, Jacob (January 14, 2020). "Four Rookies Chasing ARCA West Title With BMR". Speed Sport. Turn 3 Media, LLC. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  3. Christley, Jason (January 29, 2020). "New Faces Readying For West Coast Title Run". ARCARacing.com. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  4. Albert, Zack (December 17, 2019). "Hailie Deegan moves to Ford development program, sets 2020 plans". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  5. Christley, Jason (June 27, 2020). "Utah Doubleheader Produces Pair of First-Time Winners". ARCARacing.com.
  6. "Jesse Love earns first ARCA Menards Series West Championship with Toyota". Speedway Digest. November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  7. "Love Is ARCA West Champion As Gilliland Steals Finale". Speed Sport. November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  8. Srigley, Joseph (January 29, 2021). "Jesse Love Joining Venturini Motorsports for 10-Race ARCA Schedule in 2021". TobyChristie.com.
  9. "Jesse Love – 2020 ARCA Menards Series results". Racing Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  10. "Jesse Love – 2020 ARCA Menards Series East results". Racing Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  11. "Jesse Love – 2020 ARCA Menards Series West results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.