Richard Childress Racing to appeal Jesse Love Rockingham Xfinity Series disqualification

Following the disqualification of the No. 2 car of Jesse Love on Saturday, Richard Childress Racing will appeal the decision. NASCAR claimed that Love’s Xfinity Series Chevy had an issue with the rear suspension.

With the truck trailing arm allegedly not in contact with the U-bolt saddle in the rear suspension, NASCAR disqualified Jesse Love. He drove to a fuel-saving win in overtime as the field began to fall apart from attrition, running out of gas.

The DQ gave the win to JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith. If it holds up, and the RCR appeal fails, then Smith has his first win of the 2025 season.

Richard Childress Racing likely has a hard case to argue. Getting a disqualification overturned is very difficult to do. The National Motorsports Appeals Panel will hear the arguments and make a decision.

“Richard Childress Racing will appeal NASCAR’s decision to disqualify the No. 2 team’s win from the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway,” RCR posted on X/Twitter. A direct, short, and to-the-point statement.

Richard Childress Racing will appeal NASCAR’s decision to disqualify the No. 2 team's win from the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Rockingham Speedway. pic.twitter.com/HyUp9YtqqW

— RCR (@RCRracing) April 21, 2025

The disqualification is a big blow to Jesse Love. If it is upheld, it will take away his only non-drafting track win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He has been so close in his short career in the series. Not to mention, this is going to hurt him in the point standings.

Even if the appeal does not succeed, Love should be focused this week. After all, he won at Talladega last year in the spring, why can’t he do it again? I think there is plenty of evidence from Love, at 20 years old, to prove that he isn’t a “superspeedway merchant” as the kids say. The DQ definitely doesn’t help make that narrative go away, though.

Jesse Love drops in points after DQ

Instead of moving up to second in the Xfinity Series point standings after a win at Rockingham, Jesse Love dropped after a DQ. He went from third to fourth, not the worst drop. But he’s only 10 points from dropping to ninth.

The battle for the regular season championship is already starting to get out of control. Justin Allgaier has an 87-point lead over second-place Sam Mayer. He is 100 points over Austin Hill in third. Love is now 124 points off of Allgaier.

For reference, William Byron has only a 30-point lead on Denny Hamlin in the Cup Series. You have to go all the way back to 9th and 10th place to find drivers 100+ points back. Corey Heim only has a 22-point lead on Chandler Smith in Truck Series. Again, 10th place is how far back you have to go to find drivers 100+ points down to the points leader.

10 races into the season, and the points in the Xfinity Series are getting harder to come by. Jesse Love could flip his situation around if the appeal is successful. That just doesn’t feel like it is likely, given the situation.