Jesse Love wins Daytona Xfinity race in controversial overtime finish

What a race, folks. Jesse Love reminded everybody why he has so much hype behind him as a future NASCAR Cup Series prospect. When he got a hold of the lead in this race, there was no way he was going to let it go. Block after block, Love showed off serious talent.

Everyone thought this was going to be another Richard Childress Racing driver winning this race. Austin Hill had won the February Daytona race three years in a row before this race. With mechanical issues, his teammate Jesse Love picked up the pieces.

This race took a lot out of Love. He was out of breath in his post-race interview.

The field started to wreck right before Jesse Love crossed the line for the white flag. The tower couldn’t hit the caution button fast enough and Love did officially take the white flag, then the yellow came out, and the race was over.

A classic Xfinity Series race at Daytona.

Multiple cars collected coming to the line, and @jesselovejr1 wins! pic.twitter.com/n1GRq8EmeF

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 16, 2025

Once again, a story of close but not close enough for Sheldon Creed. He was running up front most of the night with his teammate Sam Mayer. Those two showed great teamwork in their first race together at Haas Factory Team. Mayer was P2, Creed P3.

Carson Kvapil pulled off a top-five result in P4 just ahead of Taylor Gray. Harrison Burton, Jordan Anderson, Dean Thompson, Jeremy Clements, and Patrick Emerling, made up the rest of the top-10.

This could have ended with Jesse Love in the garage like his teammate Austin Hill. It didn’t though and Love was able to show off that RCR/ECR power.

Jesse Love starts the year with a big win

There are many times when superspeedway wins go to drivers who get lucky. Right place, right time. Jesse Love is not an example of that. He went out and showed that he has real talent, especially at these drafting tracks.

The level of young talent in this series is insane. Connor Zilisch wrecked late in the race but he was up front and making huge moves all afternoon long. Carson Kvapil was in an incident and didn’t have a rear bumper cover and was the top rookie in the race.

Richard Childress Racing is going to have a hard time keeping Jesse Love out of the Cup Series at this rate. I know he only has two Xfinity wins, Talladega and Daytona, but the level of skill he has behind the wheel is obvious. If RCR won’t pull the trigger, another organization is bound to come in and make an offer. I don’t expect Love to do a third season of Xfinity.

Jesse Love grabs his first win of the season in the first race of the season. Expect him to be in contention for a championship this year.