NASCAR News: Jesse Love Roars to Xfinity Glory: A Desert Duel Cements a Champion’s Rise

With 24 laps remaining in a sun-baked showdown under the Arizona lights at Phoenix Raceway, Jesse Love (pictured) sliced past Connor Zilisch like a blade through silk, seizing the lead and never looking back. The 20-year-old phenom from Richard Childress Racing clinched the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in the No. 2 Chevrolet, capping a season of raw talent and unyielding grit with his third career victory—and his first crown.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Love’s triumph was a masterclass in poise amid chaos, outdueling a formidable JR Motorsports trio: Zilisch, Carson Kvapil, and defending 2024 champion Justin Allgaier. Aric Almirola chased him home in second aboard the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, securing the series Owner’s Championship in the process.

The emotion. The relief.

Soak it all in, @jesselovejr1. pic.twitter.com/QsKiN2SW4a

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 2, 2025

Zilisch, who entered with 10 wins and Rookie of the Year honors, faded to third on the final stint. Polesitter Brandon Jones rolled to fourth, while Allgaier salvaged fifth. Rounding out the top 10: Sammy Smith, Taylor Gray, Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, and Justin Bonsignore. Kvapil, the fourth Championship 4 contender, settled for 13th after a bid that fell just short.

This victory marked the swan song for the Xfinity Series sponsorship era, closing an 11-year chapter before the O’Reilly Auto Parts banner flies in 2026. For Love, a California kid with ice in his veins, it was more than a trophy—it was redemption, rivalry settled, and a statement etched in rubber and roar. He dethroned Allgaier, the grizzled veteran; outlasted Kvapil, the hungry upstart; and edged his close friend Zilisch in a desert duel destined for highlight reels.

Love’s path to this pinnacle wasn’t paved in gold. A year ago, as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year, he scrapped to eighth in the standings. But 2025 ignited like a spark plug: He stormed to victory in the Daytona opener, then snagged a pole at EchoPark Automotive Speedway the following week. Even a 16th-place finish there couldn’t dim his fire—he racked up top-11s in six of the next seven races, blending speed with savvy.

Bumps came, as they do in stock car warfare. An apparent April win at Rockingham Speedway dissolved into heartbreak after post-race disqualification, dropping the team to 37th. Echoes of frustration rang out with a 37th at Martinsville in March and a 38th at Sonoma in July. Yet Love’s superpower was consistency: In the 26-race regular season, every other finish landed 18th or better, a quiet foundation for playoff fireworks.

The postseason tested his mettle further. A 25th at Bristol’s Round of 12 opener stung, but Love answered with four straight top-12s, his intensity sparking sparks—literally, in a Round of 8 tangle with Nick Sanchez at Las Vegas. Adversity? He alchemized it into fuel.

Phoenix arrived as the ultimate proving ground. Outnumbered on paper by three JRM aces, Love leaned on veteran calm to navigate the fray. He gave Richard Childress Racing its first Xfinity title since Tyler Reddick’s 2019 gem, transforming from promising rookie to reigning king in the span of a single season.

Now, with championship hardware gleaming, Love eyes 2026: back in the No. 2 Chevy, sharpening his edge and gunning for a repeat. The story’s next chapter is unwritten, but one truth endures—Jesse Love isn’t just rising. He’s arrived, throttle wide open, ready to redefine dominance in the desert heat.

Jesse Love

Jesse Love, first-time champion. Congratulations. You are the NASCAR Xfinity Series champion for 2025. This has been the dream. What does this mean for you?

JESSE LOVE: I just feel so clean, relieved. It’s been a tough year for me. Man, I’ve just put so much work into it. People like my dad and Scott Speed, my whole 2 team, have worked just as hard for my dream as I have for my own.

Man, thank you to Whelen. For one last time this car was fast as Xfinity Mobile. It really hasn’t set in yet. I just tried to tune out all the emotion. It doesn’t feel real at all (smiling).

The pass over Connor, you had to pass him in order to win this championship. Walk me through that.

JESSE LOVE: Yeah, he’s my best friend in the whole world, but not when we’re racing each other.

We race each other hard, but fair. Yeah, my I had to take it through. I knew he was going to put in my door. I knew I had to throttle up and just get my nose ahead. He was running a really good race. My car was just better tonight and allowed me to roll off the center and get off the corner better.

Hats off to the 88 team and Connor for all they’ve done this year. Tonight, I can’t even believe it, you know?

It wasn’t necessarily an easy race. A little bit of a roller coaster. We didn’t see you out front till the end there. How did you keep your head in the game?

JESSE LOVE: We were so bad to start. I couldn’t believe how bad we were. We were awful. Danny put one of his magic wrenches in there and we came to life.

I’m so grateful for everybody at ECR, back in North Carolina, Marty Houston, all the boys, Chevrolet. I’m forgetting a laundry list of people. This means the world to me. Everybody that’s been on this journey with me over the last few years, especially the last probably eight months or so, I’ve really tried to just rebuild myself and come back better.

Oh, I feel so just clean and relieved.

Connor Zilisch (Dominated the season – Playoff System failed him)

A third-place finish in the race today, second in the championship for Connor. I know the emotions were high. How do you evaluate tonight and ultimately just this season?

CONNOR ZILISCH: Yeah, I mean, I came into the weekend, I told my entire team we got to give it our 100% this week. As long as we walk out of this place knowing we did that, I’ll be proud of us.

We did that today, and we fought all day long, threw everything we had at it. Unfortunately our WeatherTech Chevrolet, we just didn’t quite have what we needed.

It doesn’t take away from anything we’ve done this year. Our car has been as fast as Xfinity Mobile all year long. I’m so proud of these guys.

Yeah, I guess the lights were too bright.

Experiencing the highs and lows of this moment, there were a lot of both. How much did all of that play into the emotion that you felt at the end of the day today?

CONNOR ZILISCH: Yeah, you just work all year long, you bust your ass for 33 weeks. I feel like we’ve done the best job we could all year long. Yeah, we just didn’t have it today.

I’m so proud of this team. We have nothing to hang our heads about. Yeah, this one’s going to sting.

2025 Phoenix Xfinity Race Results