By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
FORT WORTH – NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie Jesse Love certainly knows how to get to the point.
Love notched his third pole of the 2024 season Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway in his latest bid to bag his first series victory in Saturday afternoon’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300.
Love toured TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval in 29.093-seconds at 185.612 mph to secure P1 in the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro fielded by Richard Childress Racing. A 19-year-old native of Menlo Park, Calif., Love previously qualified first in his initial two series starts _ at Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, a sister Speedway Motorsports facility to TMS.
So…now that Love apparently has qualifying figured out, how does he and veteran crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. transform P1 into a checkered flag?
“I don’t think I always do a great job driving in practice, but there’s so many things I want to try just to get them off my mind,” said Love, alluding to Friday’s abbreviated 20-minute session. “So, I’m not real consistent in practice…but I think I know most of what I need to know. And I think now it’s just about doing the little things right _ doing things like pit road right, restarts, not putting yourself in bad spots around lapped cars _ doing things like that.”
Love will start alongside reigning series champion Cole Custer after his lap in 29.115-seconds at 185.471 mph in the No. 00 Andy’s Frozen Custard Ford Mustang fielded by Stewart-Haas Racing. Custer will look to embellish his TMS resume, which includes six top-10 finishes in seven starts. Four of those have been among the top-five, including a victory in the 2018 fall race.
“The track always starts out really edgy, and people are always on each other’s doors just because there’s only one lane really around here,” said Custer, alluding to TMS’ unique banking layout. Turns 1 and 2 are banked at 20-degrees while Turns 3 and 4 are banked at a more traditional 24-degrees.
“So, it makes it pretty treacherous for everybody on restarts and everything just because you’re so tight racing,” Custer said. “It’s a really hard place to get ahold of with how treacherous it is and then also trying to balance the two ends. One end’s flat, one end’s banked. So, getting the car to handle how you want it is not an easy task for the crew chiefs. But I think we have a solid piece coming here, so we’re looking forward to it.” Custer is working with crew chief Jonathan Toney.
Scheduled for 200 laps/300 miles, the race will start at 12:30 p.m. (CDT) on FOX Sports 1 with radio coverage on PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
Saturday’s race will be the 47th Xfinity Series event conducted at “The Great American Speedway” since 1997. Four drivers _ Chandler Smith and Sheldon Creed of Joe Gibbs Racing and Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer of JR Motorsports _ will earn a $100,00 bonus if he can roll into Victory Lane. Aric Almirola of JGR won the $100,000 bonus last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, but is not entered here.
Smith qualified fourth at 29.140-seconds and 185.312 mph in the No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra. Creed will start 15th in the 38-car field after lapping at 29.553-seconds and 182.723 mph in the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota. Allgaier will start sixth after lapping at 29.154-seconds and 185.223 mph in the No. 7 BRANDT/TradeMark Nitrogen Chevy Camaro. And Mayer will roll off 10th after hot-lapping at 29.372-seconds and 183.849 mph in the No. 1 Carolina Carports Camaro.
Ironically, none of the four eligible drivers have previously won an Xfinity race at TMS. Allgaier has a best finish of second in 2021 and has placed among the top-five in four of his last five starts. He also qualified on-pole last season. Teammate Mayer has a best finish of third in 2022 among four career starts.
Smith posted a fourth-place finish in his only TMS start last season while Creed has a best result of seventh in 2022 in three starts. But Creed also scored a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory here in 2020. Smith is off to a hot start this season via a pair of wins and a perfect seven top-10 finishes in as many starts.
Media Center Interview
NXS Pole Winner Jesse Love (No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) –
