MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jesse Love punched his ticket to the Championship 4 Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, but this is a race that he wants to quickly put in the rearview mirror.
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He only advanced after using up nearly his entire 40-point cushion to the cutline. These points helped him overcome multiple pit road issues and near-misses on the track.
"It's a relief," Love said on pit road as he leaned against his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. "Not to say you ever take it for granted, but I expected coming in here to be moving on to Phoenix. And didn't expect for it to be as blue collar of a night as it was.
"I know that we'll be good at Phoenix. I know it's one of my best racetracks. I know this place is my worst racetrack and I never like coming here. So I'm glad I can say 'Sayonara' until March next year."
Love started the race 21st overall, well out of contention for stage points. The night only grew worse from the moment he took the checkered flag.
The first issue occurred on Lap 33. He made a pit stop but NASCAR nabbed him for speeding on pit road. Love had to restart at the tail end of the field, which put him in danger of going one lap down.
The Richard Childress Racing driver ended the opening stage in the 21st position. He then moved up to 18th early in stage 2, but he ran into another issue after Jeb Burton blew a tire and spun.
Love received a second pit road penalty for equipment interference. Once again, he had to drop to the tail end of the field for a restart. From that point on, he did not have the handling to stay ahead of the leaders. He fell one lap down as the race progressed and ended stage 2 in 30th place.
Once he fell further back in traffic, he almost became an innocent bystander in a crash. Takuma Koga hit the curb and shot up the track directly in front of Love. Somehow, the Richard Childress Racing driver darted to the left and avoided significant damage.
Love ultimately got back on the lead lap during a rash of cautions in the final stage, but he did not crack the top 20 before taking the checkered flag. He had to settle for 23rd place, which was good enough to move him on to Phoenix.
His points put him in a position where he could only miss out on the Championship 4 if a driver below the cutline won. A non-playoff driver, Taylor Gray, captured the race win, so Love survived and advanced.
Now that he has made the championship race, he knows he can go out and compete with the JR Motorsports trio — Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, and Carson Kvapil. He believes he can win the championship race and the Xfinity Series title.
He and his team just have to ensure that they don't have miscues take them out of contention at the 1-mile Arizona track where he has three top-10 finishes in three starts and a runner-up in his track debut.
"Making sure the small errors like tonight don't happen," Love said in response to a question from FanBuzz. "We have our T's crossed and our I's dotted, right? I know our speed will be there.
"Just about execution — you can have a blunder here or there in the rounds, but obviously, Justin (Allgaier) kind of proved me wrong last year (by winning in a backup car), but you can't really have a mistake in the championship race and come back from it."
