Jesse Love went to Victory Lane for the first time this year with an impressive victory at WWT Raceway on Saturday. The reigning NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion is now just 16 points out of the championship lead after claiming his fourth career win.
Love passed Carson Kvapil with 16 laps to go, driving off to collect the checkered flag with Sheldon Creed second, Sam Mayer third, Taylor Gray fourth, and Kvapil falling back to fifth.
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Parker Retzlaff, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith, Kyle Sieg, and Jeb Burton filled out the remainder of the top ten.
“Just gotta put them on the dash, but just proud of our crew, proud of my pit crew, proud of my whole team, Chevrolet … It’s been really hard, but I knew that if I just, if I keep my grit, if I keep my tenacity, if I keep my work ethic, and not just keep it, but improve it, then eventually one of those opportunities is going to be there, and I’m going to freaking take it, which we freaking did tonight, but I don’t want to cuss on TV.”
Creed now leads the championship standings, just three points clear of Justin Allgaier, who finished 13th after suffering some late-race damage. Kvapil is third, nine points behind, and then Love at -16pts.
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Stages 1 and 2
The race got underway with Kvapil in command of the field. It didn’t take long for the first incident of the day, as Taylor Gray spun while battling side-by-side with Caruth for a position inside the top ten.
The rest of the stage went green, with Kvapil claiming the Stage 1 win over Day, Allgaier, Hill, Love, Creed, Crews, Sawalich, Mayer, and Retzlaff.
During the stage break, a bizarre and frightening crash broke out at the start of pit lane. Thanks to the track’s unique layout, cars enter before turn 3 and file down a narrow single-lane asphalt section that opens onto pit lane.
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A check-up near the first pit stalls resulted in several cars running into other, with a few spinning close to pit crews, oblivious to the melee behind them. Some cars were completely destroyed, and crew members from the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota narrowly avoided serious injury.
Most of the field was forced to stop as the entire pit road was blocked, and NASCAR promptly red-flagged the race. At least three Chase drivers suffered notable damage, including Crews, but also Rajah Caruth and Brandon Jones.
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On the restart, Kvapil continued to lead as Mayer and Love got frustrated with one another, even making contact
Austin Hill had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel, and a caution followed soon after for debris from the wounded Anthony Alfredo. His was damaged in the pit road melee, and was now throwing sparks as he made his way back into the pits.
On the restart, Kvapil faced immense pressure from Love and Mayer with Love ultimately prevailing in a tense three-way fight for the lead.
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Love won Stage 2 over Mayer, Kvapil, Creed, Sawalich, Allgaier, Day, Retzlaff, and R. Sieg.
Stage 3
Hill stayed out and took over the race lead for the start of the final stage, but Love quickly reclaimed the race lead. Hill quickly fell back as he had older tires, while Mayer and Kvapil pursued Love for the race lead. With just under 60 to go, Kvapil moved back into second with Love three seconds up the road.
The final stage was the longest of the race, and was going to require a green-flag pit stop if there were no more cautions. Well, the fifth yellow of the day eliminated that, as Lavar Scott spun into the wall trying to avoid the slow/wounded car of Jones.
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On a restart with 48 laps to go, Love held the lead. Behind them, Day and Sawalich made contact while fighting for fifth, with frustrations quickly boiling over. Sawalich door-slammed Day down the backstretch, who spun after connecting with Allgaier’s right front fender. He slammed the inside wall, ending his race, while both Sawalich and Allgaier suffered fender damage.
On the ensuing restart, Kvapil got the upper-hand over Love, only to have Creed begin to reel him in. In the back, three cars got together and went spinning, triggering yet another yellow. Brad Perez, Josh Bilicki, and Joey Gase were all involved.
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On the next run, Love managed run down Kvapil, moving up the track and taking the lead with just over 15 laps to go. Kvapil suddenly dropped several positions, falling out of contention.
With just a few laps to go, Hill had to give up a top ten with yet another unscheduled stop due to a flat tire.
The race stayed green, and Love won by around nine tenths over Creed.
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