Sunoco rookie Jesse Love plans to phone a friend before the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs begin with Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.
The friend? Fellow Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch, who leads all active full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers with 63 victories.
Before he joined RCR, Love didn’t know what to expect from his veteran elders like Busch, Austin Dillon and teammate Austin Hill, but he has found Busch in particular extremely accommodating in his willingness to pass on the knowledge he has gained over more than two decades.
Love already knows what a championship run is like. He won 10 of 20 races on the way to the ARCA Menards Series title last year. But he’s still an eager learner and a quick study.
“I still want to lean on some more people at RCR, especially Kyle,” Love said during Tuesday’s Playoff Media Day Zoom conference. “I want to give him a call in the next few days before we go to the first one (the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway), to (see if he can) give me a nugget or two to keep in the back of my head as we go through the Playoffs.”
Busch already has been helpful to the 19-year-old from Menlo Park, Calif.
“There have been times when he’s called me to help me out on something,” Love said. “Before I was even Xfinity racing, we went and did that testing at COTA (Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Tex.) in the WRL (World Racing League) series. He was really blunt and honest with me if I was doing something wrong.
“But I was really fast, and he was like, ‘Where are you missing it?’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about—I’m really fast.’ And he was like, ‘Well, you’re two-tenths (of a second) off in this corner compared to me last year…
“After he said that, I had a confused look on my face, he brought data over and brought people to show me the data and explain it to me, and that’s kind of been our relationship this whole year.”