MADISON, Ill.— If making his Craftsman Truck Series debut weren’t enough pressure, Jesse Love now finds himself in the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra at World Wide Technology Raceway this weekend.
Love is subbing for points leader Corey Heim, who was sidelined for this weekend’s race activities.
With Love already scheduled to race at Gateway—his first of three events with TRICON in 2023—it was a no-brainer to put the 18-year-old ARCA points leader in Heim’s ride.
“It’s definitely a lot different,” Love said after practice. “A lot less skew than I’m used to, so there’s less to lean on. Obviously, the tire—everything’s so different. I’m just kind of working up to it, making sure we don’t make any mistakes that put us out early.
“I’ve got a pretty good feel for the truck.”
Love entered the weekend coming off of his first national midget win. On Thursday night, he wheeled his Chad Boat Industries No. 84 car to the Xtreme Outlaws Midget Series win on dirt at Tri-City Speedway just north of WWTR. Although Love started racing quarter midgets at age 5, this was a breakout victory for the Californian from Menlo Park.
“It’s great,” Love said. “It’s always cool to be able to win on different surfaces and prove yourself a little bit. It definitely felt really good, and it gives me a lot of confidence for tonight.”
Love will run the upcoming Indiana Speedweeks in a midget for CBI—part of a 15-race schedule for Boat.
“It’s going to be really cool to go to midget week and hopefully contend for a title,” Love said. “That’s obviously the goal, and to contend for some for some race wins. Same thing as tonight, to do the best job I can, I think if I do that. Then we should be in.”
Love has been impressive in his first full season on the ARCA tour with Venturini Motorsports. Although he won races the last two seasons running a partial schedule, the ability to compete full-time has resulted not only with the points lead but three victories and two poles in the first five races.
“If I didn’t get wrecked by our teammate, we would have been had four wins in a row now,” said Love who was leading at Phoenix when there was contact with Conner Jones. “There’s always a little bit more you can do.
“But I’m really proud of the effort that everybody at Venturini Motorsports is putting in. I think all the everything’s clicking at just the right time. And I’m really proud to be a part of the organization.”
Love has one start at WWTR. His first top five in the ARCA Series came here in 2020. With his previous experience and the top truck on the tour, Love has high expectations entering the Toyota 200.
“I just contend for a win,” Love said. “Obviously, you got to qualify good here to get good track position. But after that, just be smart and do all we can.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer.
