BRISTOL, Tenn: Jesse Love is gearing up for a busy weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Richard Childress Racing phenom is slated to log 800 laps between the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his highly anticipated NASCAR Cup Series debut in Thunder Valley.
While Sunday marks a significant milestone in his career, the 20-year-old rising star isn’t setting any specific goals for his Cup debut.
Instead, Love is locked in on execution, trusting that a sharp, consistent approach will lead to strong result in Sunday afternoon’s Food City 500.
“Yeah, (I’m) not a big goal person,” said Love Saturday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Really. I try to focus more, like when I was younger, running like ARCA and stuff. I think I prioritized, like, winning a lot more was the end result, in a sense. And I’ve kind of gotten away from that over the last probably two to three years now, and kind of focus more on, like, the execution part of it and the job that I do.
“I always feel confident that if I, you know, do my very best job, I will leave the racetrack with a good result, with a chance to win, and that could be completely different this weekend.”
Rather than setting a goal that could add pressure or come up short, Love believes that leaving the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” with a solid debut and valuable experience for future NASCAR Cup Series races would make the weekend a success.
“You know, if I do a phenomenal job, realistically, I’m probably not gonna have a chance to win the Cup race, right? So, for me, right? My goals, if I was only focused on winning, winning, winning, I feel like I’d be doing myself a bad doing wrongdoing.
“I’m just focused on leaving the racetrack, having run all the laps and feeling like I did a good job. And I think if I do that, then I can have a result that will really satisfy me and the team.”
Bristol, often considered one of the most demanding short tracks on the NASCAR schedule, may have surprised some as the site of Love’s Cup Series debut. But for the February Daytona Xfinity Series winner, choosing to take on 500 grueling laps around the 0.533-mile concrete oval was an easy decision.
“It’s one of my better race tracks,” Love said of Bristol. “For me, kind of more at my wheelhouse. I don’t really enjoy the flat track stuff a whole lot. I really enjoy the tracks. A lot of banking, a lot of grip, moving around, getting on the wall, get on the top, bottom, the middle, kind of wherever there’s grip. Clean race tracks.”
Love also expressed his appreciation for Bristol, a track he enjoys for its challenge and the need to search every lane for grip in the pursuit of forward progress.
“I really enjoy the tracks with a lot of banking, a lot of grip, moving around, running the wall, getting on the top, bottom, the middle… kind of wherever there’s grip and a clean racetrack,” sounded Love. “I like to search around and I can do that here.”
Love also noted that competing at Bristol Motor Speedway — a track he’s familiar with — helps eliminate some of the unknowns typically expected in a Cup Series debut.
“I’m comfortable with the racetrack and have enough laps here,” he said. “I took enough detailed notes over the years. When I come here, I’m having to learn a whole new race car. I didn’t really get do any testing, right? So I can eliminate one of the factors of learning, which is learning the racetrack, right?
“Still picking up, you know, things here and there throughout the weekend, but because I’ve been here enough, I can come here for the Cup race and not have to learn a racetrack and a car at the same time.”
To prepare for Bristol, Love spent the week on the Chevrolet simulator and logged countless hours on iRacing, hoping that the time devoted to turning hundreds of virtual laps will pay off — not only on Saturday in his pursuit of an Xfinity Series championship but also on Sunday as he looks to make a strong impression in his Cup debut.
“I ran a lot of laps in the simulator. I think I probably ran about probably 2,000 laps this week on the simulator, whether it be the DiL at the GM Tech Center or whether it be even iRacing with Scott Speed,” explained Love.
“So just ran a lot of laps… trying different things. You know, one thing I did this week was I ran a couple 500 lap races by myself on iRacing, just to kind of condition myself to the mental drain it’s going to take to run 500 laps.
“Obviously, it’ll be the longest race in my life. Never ran a 24-hour race before, right? So, this is going to be different for me in a lot of ways.”
Love makes no secret of how much his family’s love and support mean to him. While his future as a full-time Cup Series driver remains uncertain, he’s especially grateful to have his family at Bristol this weekend, cheering him on in person.
Support is essential, but for the Menlo Park, Calif. native, he was able to put many of his emotions to rest on his drive to the track, knowing what’s on deck — a chance to prove himself, stay focused, and make the most of a milestone weekend.
“Obviously everyone that knows me knows I’m really close to my family and really care deeply about them,” express Love. “For me, like I said, I had that emotional roller coaster on the way up here. So, thankfully, I feel like I had that so now I can kind of put it aside, in a sense, now that I have to go and perform.”
As Love prepares for one of the biggest weekends of his career, he admits the emotional tug of the moment is real — but so is the pressure to stay locked in. Balancing both, he says, hasn’t been easy.
“But, you know, it’s been tough for me because I have to do what’s best for, like, what’s going to make me run the best on Sunday.
“Some people will ask me, like, how excited are you… blah, blah, blah, blah. I almost have to try to put on a face in a sense because it’s hard for my family, my sponsors and friends to understand what I’m having to go through, which is like I can’t be over the moon excited, emotional and things like that, even though they may be, because I have to go perform on Sunday, right?
“And if I’m in that headspace, then I probably won’t perform as well. But they understand that. They understand the game and how the game’s played. First rule of playing the game is knowing that you’re playing a game.
“So, I feel like I have to do what’s best to help me run better on Sunday, and after the fact, then I feel like I can give in and give those people what I want to give them and what they want, as well.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
