The mental strength needed to compete at the highest level of the sport is just as important as hitting the gym or putting in simulator work. Jesse Love knows that. The hard work he has put in over the years has left him with plenty to look forward to as the next season approaches. He will head to the Cup Series as a full-time driver for Wood Brothers Racing, replacing Josh Berry in the iconic No. 21 Ford. But before that, he’s setting out on a quest to win his second consecutive O’Reilly Series championship. And that preparation begins on another continent.

“I’ll probably go somewhere in Asia and do like a cleanse of my holistic being. Come to Darlington with no, I don’t know, karma again,” Love said to Above The Line Media after finishing 20th at the Winn-Dixie 250 in Daytona on Saturday, 29 August.

It’s one of the more unique approaches we’ve seen from a NASCAR driver trying to break out of a slump. Jimmie Johnson has turned to chiropractors in the past, while Tyler Reddick revealed earlier this year that he was focusing on improving his sleep and recovering from his apnea. Love, meanwhile, feels he needs a complete mental reset after the way his 2026 season has unfolded.

He’s been winless through 23 races this season, marking a frustrating stretch for the Richard Childress Racing driver, who admits he needs his “mojo” back. The last four races in particular have been really poor for him, leaving him with little momentum to carry into Darlington next week. Love finished 26th in Atlanta, 16th in Indianapolis, 35th in Iowa, and 20th earlier today. He sits fourth in the final regular-season standings, a number that could have been better had it not been for this recent stretch.

Love is the defending O’Reilly Series champ, and in terms of stats, 2025 was much better. He had two wins, nine top-fives, and 22 top-ten finishes. However, in the same interview in Daytona, he insisted that he’s been faster this year.

“I was a champion last year, and I have far more speed. I feel like I’m doing a way better job than I was last year. The finishes aren’t there,” the RCR star said, before adding that he’s accepted the fact that simply having more speed as a driver doesn’t guarantee more results. And to be fair to him, luck has not been in his favor at all.

In Dover, for instance, the No. 2 car was arguably the fastest on the track. But with 100 laps to go at the Monster Mile, Rajah Caruth slammed into Love’s car after losing control, damaging the Chevrolet. Love ultimately finished 23rd. At Watkins Glen, he suffered another heartbreak when he was literally seconds away from going to Victory Lane, only to lose the lead to Connor Zilisch after making a slight mistake under braking in the final corner of the road course. Zilisch won, and Love finished second.

Love showed similar flashes of speed in several other races this year, including Atlanta and Pocono. Alas, accidents prevented him from turning those strong performances into notable results. He still managed to get into the Chase fairly comfortably, with seven top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, but similar incidents from here on would surely make it much harder for him to win the championship for a second year in a row.

“I have that confidence, and I’m not going to lose that, and I believe that I can rise to the occasion in the Chase, like I always do, and it could be for a championship,” Love continued in the same interview.

Maybe that trip to Asia will be exactly what Love needs to reset his karma before the Chase begins. Whether he calls it luck, momentum, or simply getting the bad breaks out of the way, he knows something needs to change. With a championship to defend and a Cup Series seat waiting for him next year, the next few weeks could be the most important stretch of his young career.