Jesse Love can use a little good luck in NASCAR O’Reilly Series title defense
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.”
The O’Reilly Series Chase gets underway on Saturday with the Fleetio 200 at Darlington Raceway (7:30 p.m. on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Justin Allgaier savors Chase schedule and new postseason format
To say that Justin Allgaier was the runaway winner of top seeding for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase would be a significant understatement.
A six-time winner this season, Allgaier held a 229-point lead over JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil in second place before the reset for the Chase.
Entering the first of nine Chase events at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, Allgaier now leads Kvapil by 25 points under the new format this year, but the loss of his huge advantage hasn’t diminished the confidence of the 2024 series champion.
“I feel like we’ve done a really good job,” Allgaier said. “We’ve executed in races that in years past I probably wouldn’t have. More wins than I’ve had in a single season—all those things kind of play into it.
“I feel good about even only having a 25-point lead. I still feel good about it, but even at the same time, I think there was one race that we lost 60 or 65 points to the guys up front… So we have to go out there and execute.”
Allgaier’s stiffest competition may come from his own shop. Kvapil took charge at the end of the season, picking up his first two career wins back-to-back at Indianapolis and Iowa. Sammy Smith and Rajah Caruth also made the Chase for JRM.
“I’d be hard-pressed to say that they’re not (the strongest opposition),” Allgaier said. “I do think there are plenty of drivers, teams, combinations that have made speed at the end of this year, that have come on. Arguably, the 1 (Kvapil) has done the best job of that. So that’s within our four walls.
“But I think every organization has their strengths. Now there are organizations that don’t have all their cars in (the Chase). We’re in a situation where we have to put our four best race cars on the track every week. It’s not one. It’s not two. It’s all four of us, right?
“I look at the last couple years, and we’ve only had to do that for one race (under the Championship 4 format). Now we’re putting all four into the Chase, and we’re going to have to run all season like that. It does put more of a strain on our shop, but there’s no team that I would rather have the opportunity to go and try to battle it out with, so I think we’ll be in great shape.”
Allgaier recorded three of his six victories this season at tracks that appear in the Chase—Darlington, Phoenix and Martinsville. Accordingly, he’s elated about the roster of tracks that comprise the nine-race body of work in the Chase.
“We have great race tracks,” Allgaier acknowledged. “When I look at the schedule, I’m like, man, you couldn’t have asked for better race tracks for the 7 car, as far as what the (Chase) looks like. I’m excited for that.”
Rajah Caruth learned valuable lessons on the way to the Chase
If Rajah Caruth hopes to contend for a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship, he’ll have to raise his performance to new heights.
Fortunately, the 24-year-old driver from Washington, D.C., will have the best possible equipment at his disposal for the entirety of the Chase, which opens Saturday with the Fleetio 200 at Darlington Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
During the first 24 races of the season, Caruth split time between the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet and the more potent No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. For the Chase, he’ll be in the No. 88 full-time, with crew chief Mardy Lindley on his pit box.
In a dramatic race last Friday at Daytona International Speedway, Caruth earned the final spot in the Chase, despite a spin from second place in the closing laps. He’ll start the postseason 80 points behind his top-seeded JR Motorsports teammate, Justin Allgaier.
On the way to the Chase, Caruth has taken a valuable lesson to heart—not to throw away points trying to get more out of a car than it’s capable of achieving.
“I’m ready to rip,” Caruth said on Wednesday during Chase Media Day interviews at the Charlotte Convention Center. “The great thing about when I was going back and forth between the 32 and JRM this year is that I was still doing sim (simulation) for the 88, so I had an understanding of what they were going to the race track with.
“With that said, it’s not a huge shock going to these (Chase) tracks for the first time in the 88, because I had that time with them early in the year.”
Caruth also pointed out that the No. 88 Chevrolet, which featured multiple drivers behind the wheel, is third in the owners’ standings with a shot at that championship. On both the owners’ and drivers’ side, Caruth thinks it’s imperative not to throw away positions and points trying to overachieve.
“The valleys are way more hurtful than they were in previous years (under the elimination format),” Caruth said. “It’s going to be important, if you’re having a seventh-place day, to not make it a 12th- or 15th- or 20th-place day—and also not throwing away a second or third trying to get a win and ending up outside the top 10.
“I really feel good about our chances. Not only will our cars be fast, but I’m confident in myself and the lessons I’ve learned earlier this year, and (I’m) ready to put it all to the test.”
— NASCAR News Wire —