Jesse Love has officially been named the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year.
Love, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion from Menlo Park, California, was announced to replace Sheldon Creed as the driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) Chevrolet Camaro entry for the 2024 Xfinity Series season in late October 2023. Paired with two-time NASCAR championship-winning crew chief Danny Stockman Jr., Love commenced his inaugural campaign in the Xfinity circuit by winning the pole position for the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway in February. After winning the first stage period, he rallied from being involved in an early muti-car wreck to finish 20th.
The following weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Love made history as he notched his second consecutive pole of the season and of his career, thus becoming the first competitor to win two poles in first two starts. The Californian would proceed to lead a race-high 157 laps and sweep both stages. During an overtime shootout, however, Love lost the lead as he fell off the pace due to stumbling on his low tank of fuel as he was relegated back to 12th place in the final running order.
Then after finishing in the top 10 in five of his next six starts while also notching a runner-up result behind Chandler Smith at Phoenix Raceway in March, Love triumphed for the first time in the Xfinity Series at Talladega Superspeedway in late April after he led 28 laps, dodged a pair of late-race multi-car wrecks and withstood through two overtime shootouts. With his accomplishment, Love became the seventh competitor to record a first Xfinity career victory at Talladega and he became the 177th competitor overall to win in the Xfinity Series as he automatically locked up a guaranteed spot into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs. Love’s Talladega victory was also the first for RCR’s No. 2 Chevrolet team since Myatt Snider won at Homestead-Miami Speedway in February 2021.
Following the Talladega victory, Love proceeded to finish in the top five twice and rack up a total of seven top-10 throughout the remaining 17 regular-season events on the 2024 Xfinity schedule before the Xfinity Series Playoffs commenced. With respective finishes of ninth, sixth and 19th throughout the Round of 12, Love managed to claim the final transfer berth into the Round of 8 by a mere two points. His title hopes, however, came to an end despite finishing sixth, fourth and 12th, respectively, throughout the Round of 8. Nonetheless, Love would proceed to finish in sixth place during the 2024 Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, which was enough to settle in eighth place in the final driver’s standings.
With the 2024 Xfinity rookie title wrapped up, Love became the first California-raised competitor to achieve the title since Tyler Reddick made the previous accomplishment in 2018, the same season where he won his first championship, and the first competitor to claim the honors both as a Chevrolet competitor and while driving for Richard Childress Racing since teammate Austin Hill achieved his rookie title in 2022.
Love’s closest rival for this year’s Xfinity rookie title was Shane van Gisbergen, a three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, who achieved his first three career victories in the Xfinity circuit, all of which his victories occurred on road-course events, and ended up in 12th place in the final standings after his Playoff hopes came to an end at the Round of 8’s conclusion. Love’s other rivals for the title included Leland Honeyman, Hailie Deegan and Dawson Cram. Honeyman settled in 22nd place in the final driver’s standings and Deegan lost her full-time ride at AM Racing halfway into the season while Cram transitioned between Mike Harmon Racing and DGM Racing halfway into the season after he lost his ride at JD Motorsports.
With the rookie title achieved, Love is set to return for a second full-time Xfinity campaign with Richard Childress Racing and the organization’s No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro entry in 2025.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2025, for a new season of competition.
