Jesse Love has found his big break with Richard Childress Racing. He will drive RCR’s #2 Camaro in the Xfinity Series from 2024. But the roots of his driving skills can be traced back to Hendrick Motorsports’ Vice-President and 4x Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. Interestingly, the racing connection forged between Gordon and Love’s family eventually became the canvas for his future growth.

In an interview with “Out of the Groove,” Love revisited his memories of driving his first car and seeking inspiration from the current generation of racing stars Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

Jesse Love had his first driving experience when he was 4

The 2023 ARCA Menards Series champion Jesse Love made head turns with his occasional Truck stints this season. In his first three NASCAR starts, the 18-year-old impressed the racing community with a Top 10 and even a Top 5 finish. He credited his father’s racing background and camaraderie with Jeff Gordon for his early exposure to this world. “My dad raced with Jeff Gordon growing up,” Love informed racing insider Eric Estepp. He continued, “They were just two friends that were on the road racing and quarter midgets out here with John Bickford, who’s Jeff’s stepdad.”

Although Gordon continued along that path to become a NASCAR legend, Love’s father went to law school. Love recalled, “So growing up when I was a little bit younger than 5 years old and knowing what racing was, but I didn’t sit in a car until I was about four.” His cousin’s familiarity with quarter midget racing also aided him. “My uncle Tony had two daughters that were in quarter midget racing and I went out there to their shop just to sit in the car and I remember sitting in the car for the first time and firing up for the first time.”

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Love joked about winning his first race against fellow 5-year-olds, but now when he is 18, it is hard for him to believe he was commanding an actual vehicle at that age. “I won my first race, which probably wasn’t too hard—I was racing against five-year-olds. But you know a win is a win. Did the training and all that stuff. Five years old was really young. I don’t realize until I see a 5-year-old; and then I was driving a car like a moving vehicle by myself at that age they can’t even control their bowels is pretty crazy to think about that.” However, that began an incredible journey into midgets and sprint cars that has eventually landed him in Xfinity.

Jesse Love learned his craft from Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell

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Kyle Larson has made no secret of the immense contribution of dirt and sprint car racing in his current skill and form. Larson, along with his perennial rival Christopher Bell, possesses strong dirt racing backgrounds and every aspiring NASCAR driver hopes to emulate their career trajectories. Jesse Love was no exception.

In his conversation with Estepp, Love traced his path from Open Wheel Midgets and sprint cars while admiring Larson, Bell, and notable dirt racers Justin Grant and Tanner Thorson. He considered himself fortunate to be able to compete alongside them now. “I got to race with those guys in their prime, which is still now.”

He further raved, “Those guys are the best of what they do so I learned how to race Open Wheel against those guys and that helped me out a lot to where now I can go to the racetrack and contend for wins and run well and set track records and run up front so that was always really cool.”

Still a teenager, the rising star carries 14 years of racing skills under his belt as he prepares to race against Xfinity veterans in a few short months.

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