CHARLOTTE, N.C. — If it appears that defending NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love lacks momentum entering this year’s nine-race Chase, don’t despair.
All it will take is a little bit of luck and some quality control to make him a contender for a second straight title.
Love won twice in 2025, bookending the season with victories in the Daytona opener and the Championship 4 Race at Phoenix.
This year, he’s winless through 24 races, though that shouldn’t suggest a lack of speed in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Love has led 383 laps this season versus 297 in 33 events last year.
“I’m not a ‘luck’ guy, right?” Love said Wednesday at Chase Media Day in the Charlotte Convention Center. “I think it’s a word that’s overused and just kind of thrown around as an excuse a lot.
“This year, with the speed that we’ve had and actually being able to show up and dominate races and have something silly happen… we’ve had a lot of bad luck this year. If we don’t have that in the (Chase), then we can win a championship. If we do continue to have that, then we’re not.”
Emblematic of Love’s season was the May 30 race at Nashville Superspeedway. Love led 87 laps from the pole before loose wheels derailed his winning chances. He finished 16th in a car he described as “the best I’ve ever had.”
“For myself, I’m not worried about being able to perform at a high enough level to win a championship,” said Love, who will move up to the NASCAR Cup Series next year in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. “I know that I’m performing at that level right now.
“If we don’t have those bad things happen in the Chase, then we’re going to be fine.”
