Jesse Love roared out of the gates in style and commenced a new season of NASCAR Xfinity Series competition by winning the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 15, amid an overtime shootout.
The 2023 ARCA Menards Series champion from Menlo Park, California, led three times for 30 of 126 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in ninth place and rallied from causing an early multi-car wreck on the fourth lap to preserve his No. 2 Whelen/Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entry through the event’s first two stage periods.
After teammate Austin Hill dropped out in the closing laps due to a mechanical issue amid a dominant performance, Love challenged and assumed the lead for the first time within the final 25-lap mark. Despite enduring two restarts amid two multi-car wrecks, the latter of which that sent the event into overtime, Love, who was in defensive mode, maintained the top spot for the final 18 laps. He then managed to start the final lap just before another multi-car wreck on the frontstretch officially concluded the event, which handed the victory to the Californian as he won for the second time in his Xfinity career.
The starting lineup for the event was determined through the 2024 owner’s standings after on-track qualifying that was scheduled for Saturday was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, Justin Allgaier, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, started on pole position and he shared the front row with rookie Taylor Gray.
Before the event, the following names that included Anthony Alfredo, Parker Retzlaff and Ryan Truex dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the 2025 Xfinity Series season commenced under green, Justin Allgaier, who opted to start on the outside lane, muscled his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet entry ahead through the first two turns as he had Chevrolet teammate Austin Hill drafting help. Through the backstretch, a majority of the field migrated to the outside lane that was led by Allgaier while Gray tried to challenge Allgaier for the top spot while leading the inside lane. As the field that was stacked in two-packed lanes returned to the frontstretch, Allgaier led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Allgaier and Gray dueled one another for the lead in front of two-stacked lanes. By the fifth lap mark, Hill, who had been drafting Allgaier early in the event, made his move beneath Allgaier through the frontstretch as he then moved his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet entry into the lead entering the first two turns. With Allgaier transitioning to the inside lane in front of Gray, Hill then blocked a charge by Sheldon Creed on the outside lane through the first two turns to maintain the top spot.
Then in the backstretch, the event’s first caution flew when Brandon Jones, who was the fourth competitor in line on the inside lane and was racing in the top-10 mark, got bumped by Jesse Love amid a brief stack-up and he clipped rookie Carson Kvapil before he hit the outside wall head-on. Jones’ incident triggered a multi-car wreck that involved rookies Daniel Dye and Connor Zilisch along with Harrison Burton, Garrett Smithley and Brennan Poole. In the process, Jones and Dye were both eliminated from further competition in the event.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 11 featured Hill and Allgaier dueling for the lead in front of two-stacked lanes as Hill had Creed drafting him while Allgaier was being drafted by rookie Christian Eckes. Through the backstretch, Creed drafted Hill clear of Allgaier and into the lead entering Turns 3 and 4. With Allgaier falling back to battling Gray for third place, Hill led the following ahead of Creed as rookies William Sawalich and Nick Sanchez along with Sam Mayer, Justin Bonsignore and Jesse Love followed suit in the top 10.
Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Hill retained the lead over Creed and two stacked rows of competitors that were led by Gray and Allgaier. By then, the top 14 competitors were separated by within one second of one another while the top 22 competitors were separated by two seconds. Shortly after, a majority of the field migrated to the outside lane that was led by Hill while Allgaier, who was flirting for eighth place, was the lead competitor on the inside lane.
Four laps later, Hill led a long line of competitors racing towards the outside wall as he was pursued by Creed, Gray, Sawalich, Sanchez, Bonsignore, Jeb Burton, Anthony Alfredo, Love and Ryan Sieg respectively. Meanwhile, Allgaier had drifted back to 15th place after he received no drafting help from the inside lane.
Just then, the event’s second caution flew when Poole, who was multiple laps down after he was involved in the first carnage, had his hood blown up on his front windshield as he dropped debris entering the frontstretch. During the caution period, some led by Josh Williams and including Eckes, Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Love and Harrison Burton pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Hill remained on the track.
With five laps remaining in the first stage period, the field restarted under green. At the start, Hill and Gray, both of whom occupied the front row, battled dead even for the lead in front of two-stacked lanes through the tri-oval and the first two turns. Hill would use the momentum from the outside lane to muscle ahead as he then went into defensive mode to block both Gray and Creed through the backstretch. As the field began to fan out to three lanes, Hill led the following lap.
Over the next two laps, Hill led a long line of competitors toward the outside wall as Hill led Creed, Sanchez, Jeb Burton and Alfredo, respectively. In third place, Sanchez repeatedly gave Creed bumps in the rear bumper through the straightaways and corners, but they both remained in line behind Hill. Meanwhile, Leland Honeyman was trying to mount a charge as the lead competitor from the inside lane.
During the final lap of the first stage period, Hill retained the lead over Creed, Sanchez and the field through the first two turns and the first half of the backstretch. Then through the backstretch, Creed tried to make a move beneath Hill, but the latter blocked the former while Sanchez also almost got sideways through the straightaway. In the process, Jeb Burton moved to the inside lane and he moved into third place.
With Creed being drafted by Burton, Sanchez then tried to make a move from the outside lane as the field fanned out entering the frontstretch. The runs, however, were not enough to dethrone Hill from the top spot as the latter captured the first stage victory on Lap 30. Creed settled in second place ahead of Sanchez, Jeb Burton and Alfredo while Honeyman, Allgaier, rookie Dean Thompson, Love and Gray were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Hill pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track. Earlier, Eckes pitted his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet entry while pit road was closed to have his entry inspected for any damage. Eckes would make multiple trips to pit road to have his entry assessed and repaired.
The second stage period started on Lap 36 as Allgaier and Burton, both of whom were among five competitors who remained on the track during the first stage’s break period, occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier and Burton dueled in front of two-stacked lanes for a full lap as neither had an advantage over the another. Allgaier would lead the following lap, but he could not muscle ahead of Burton as Connor Zilisch was shuffled out of the draft through the backstretch.
During the next lap, Sammy Smith made a bold three-wide move beneath Burton and Allgaier. This resulted in Smith challenging teammate Allgaier for the top spot while Burton, who led two turns earlier, was shuffled back behind Smith. As Harrison Burton, Mayer, Jeb Burton and Hill were all up in the top six, JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith and Allgaier continued to duel at the Lap 40 mark.
Prior to the following lap, Smith would barely move up in front of Allgaier from the outside lane and Hill would shove Mayer out of the draft. Meanwhile, Jeb Burton muscled his No. 27 Golden Corral Chevrolet entry into the lead from the inside lane. Despite being placed in defensive mode towards the Lap 45 mark, Burton retained the lead before Hill rocketed back into the lead. Hill would proceed to launch ahead of Ryan Sieg, Sanchez, Zilisch, Ryan Truex and a three-wide stacked field through the frontstretch while Burton was trying to regain ground from inside the top 10.
At the Lap 50 mark, Hill led a long line of competitors racing on the inside lane as Ryan Sieg, Sanchez, Zilisch and Truex continued to follow suit respectively. Shortly after, Love mounted a charge while leading the outside lane in the backstretch. Sanchez, Sieg, and Hill, however, would transition up to the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4 to stall Love’s momentum, which resulted in Love settling in the inside lane while the leaders remained atop the outside lane. By then, a majority of the field also transitioned up the track as Hill continued to lead on Lap 53.
By Lap 55, the top 10 competitors were separated by under a second as Hill led Sieg, Sanchez, Jeb Burton and Allgaier, respectively, while Creed, Thompson, Gray, Alfredo and Sawalich followed suit in the top 10. Meanwhile, Love, Hill’s teammate at Richard Childress Racing, drifted back to 15th place.
Over the next three laps, Hill went into defensive mode as he transitioned between the outside and inside lanes to stall any momentum generated from within the pack through the corners and straightaways. Behind, Ryan Sieg and Sanchez remained in the top three, respectively, as Allgaier moved up to fourth place. Meanwhile, Jeb Burton, who was trying to draft his way to the front, settled in fifth.
Then with two laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew when Sanchez, who was racing in third place, got bumped and turned into the outside wall by Creed, who was being drafted by Allgaier, exiting the backstretch. Despite keeping his car straight to avoid being collided into by the field, Sanchez sustained a significant amount of right-side damage to his No. 48 Spiked Coolers Chevrolet entry and was eliminated from further contention.
Sanchez’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 60 to officially conclude under caution as Hill notched his second Xfinity stage victory of the event. By then, Ryan Sieg, Creed, Allgaier, Thompson, Jeb Burton, Gray, Sawalich, Alfredo and Harrison Burton were scored in the top 10, respectively, as the event also reached its halfway mark.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hill returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hill managed to beat Creed off of pit road first as they were followed by Gray, Allgaier, Sieg, Truex, Thompson, Sawalich, Love and Harrison Burton, respectively.
With 55 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Hill and Gray occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled in front of two-stacked lanes through the first two turns before the field started to fan out to three lanes through the backstretch. After Gray received a slight advantage from the inside lane, Hill fought back from the outside lane and they remained dead even at the start/finish line to complete the following lap.
Then with 53 laps remaining, Creed, who had been drafting Hill, received drafting help from Ford teammate Sieg to duel with Hill and lead the next lap period in his No. 00 Friends of Jaclyn Ford Mustang entry. Not long after, Sieg took his shot to the front as he went beneath Creed and led a lap for himself. Sieg and Creed would both duel against one another over the next three laps before Hill, who had drafted Sieg clear of Creed, reassumed the lead as he led with 49 laps remaining.
With less than 45 laps remaining, Sieg and Hill battled for the lead as Allgaier, Creed, Jeb Burton, Love, Gray, Thompson, Harrison Burton and Truex followed suit ahead of Sawalich, Mayer, Blaine Perkins, Leland Honeyman, Justin Bonsignore and Zilisch. As the field continued to remain in two-wide formation and stacked up through every turn and corner, Sieg would receive a draft from Allgaier to muscle ahead of Hill and lead with 40 laps remaining.
Then with 39 laps remaining, a total of eight competitors, primarily Chevrolet competitors led by Allgaier and including Hill, peeled off the racetrack to pit under green. Hill then spent extra time in his pit stall as his car had a mechanical issue. The issue would drop Hill off of the lead lap category as his hopes of winning the Daytona opener for a fourth consecutive year were spoiled.
With Hill out of contention, another wave of competitors led by Sammy Smith pitted. Amid the pit stops, Garrett Smithley slid into Patrick Emerling’s pit box as the latter was trying to enter his, which resulted in the former having to swerve into his pit stall.
Back on the track, Sieg, who was among many who had yet to pit, retained the lead with 35 laps remaining as Creed, Jeb Burton, Gray and Love followed suit in the top five. By then, Allgaier, who endured a slow pit service during his green-flag pit stop, was lapped.
Sieg would then lead a wave of competitors to pit road under green with 34 laps remaining. By then, however, the caution flew when Kris Wright, who was trying to enter pit road, was unable to reduce his speed as he T-boned into the rear of Josh Bilicki, which got Bilicki’s car briefly airborne and sideways on pit road while Wright blew the hood up on his entry as he parked his damaged car on pit road. Meanwhile, Hill, who tried to limp his car around the track, took his car to the garage as he officially retired with his mechanical issue.
“It’s either a rear hub or gear or combination of both,” Hill said in the garage. “It’s such a bummer. We had such a fast Bennett Chevrolet. Everybody at [Richard Childress Racing] and ECR [Engines] have done a great job building this race car. We showed that we were the dominant team again. I was able to get the stage wins there. I just wish that we could’ve lost this race on our own terms and it not be from a mechanical failure. This one’s gonna sting for a little bit, but we have Atlanta next week.”
Following the caution period and various pit strategies, the race restarted under green flag conditions with 25 laps remaining as Creed and Love occupied the front row in front of Harrison Burton, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Gray. At the start, Creed and Love had respective drafting help from Mayer and Burton, respectively, through the first two turns. Love then received an extra push from Burton to shoot his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet entry out to the lead from the inside lane. He would then be placed in defensive mode through the frontstretch as he led the next lap.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Love maintained a steady lead over Burton, Creed, Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Gray, Ryan Ellis, Sawalich, Zilisch and Bonsignore while Josh Williams, Eckes, Jordan Anderson, Sammy Smith, Thompson, Jeb Burton, Allgaier, Alfredo, Kvapil and Greg Van Alst followed suit in the top 20, respectively. With the top-20 competitors separated by within one second, Burton side-drafted and dueled with Love for the lead from the inside lane. Burton, however, would be edged by Love during the following lap as the former remained in front of Sieg from the inside lane while Love was being drafted by Creed.
With 15 laps remaining, Love, who reassumed the lead from Creed two laps earlier and went back into defensive mode, was leading ahead of Creed, Zilisch, Mayer and Sammy Smith while Gray, Allgaier, Sawalich, Kvapil and Bonsignore were scored in the top 10. Love would then have two stacked rows of competitors trailing him through the corners and straightaways while Zilisch and Creed dueled fiercely in front of Mayer, Gray, Sammy Smith, Gray and Allgaier for the runner-up spot.
Amid Love’s defensive mode and transitioning between all lanes, Zilisch made his move beneath Love for the lead with 13 laps remaining, which the former would lead a lap for himself as he had teammates Sammy Smith, Allgaier and Kvapil all in line on the inside lane. Shortly after, Kvapil shoved teammate Allgaier out of the lead draft as Love retained the lead over Zilisch and Creed during the following lap.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Love kept Creed in front of him with the lead as Mayer and Gray followed suit. With all four remaining in single-line formation, the outside lane started to gain more advantage over the inside lane led by Zilisch as Sawalich and Bonsignore powered up to sixth place. Creed then darted back and forth behind Love before he went underneath the latter entering the frontstretch. With the leaders navigating past the lapped competitor of Poole, Creed and Love dueled for the top spot during the next lap period.
Then with eight laps remaining, the caution flew when Bonsignore, who was in eighth place, got turned by Allgaier as Allgaier tried to split in between Bonsignore and teammate Sammy Smith through the first two turns. Bonsignore then collided with the side of Sammy Smith’s No. 8 TMC Chevrolet entry as Smith went up the track and clipped Alfredo. The contact caused Alfredo to lose his left rear tire and Bonsignore rear-ending his No. 19 M3 Technology Toyota Supra entry back into the outside wall while the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage. At the moment of caution, Love had maintained the lead over Creed, Mayer, Gray and Zilisch.
With the field restarting under green with three laps remaining, Love received a strong push from Gray to muscle ahead of Creed as the former two transitioned to the inside lane entering the first two turns. Through the backstretch, Creed would regain his momentum and shove Gray’s No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota Supra entry out of the draft as he closed back in on Love with drafting help from Zilisch. As Gray and Zilisch led two-stacked lanes, Love moved up the track to block an attempted move by Creed as he led the next lap.
Then through the backstretch with two laps remaining, the caution returned after Zilisch, who was mounting a charge from the middle lane before he got blocked by Creed, got bumped and turned by teammate Allgaier as he hit the outside wall head-on. As Allgaier skidded into the side of teammate Kvapil while trying to keep his car straight, Zilisch was hit by Sawalich while more names that included Eckes, Parker Retzlaff, Greg Van Alst and Ryan Ellis all wrecked in the backstretch. The carnage sent the field into overtime as Love maintained the lead.
The start of the first overtime attempt featured Love transitioning from the outside to the inside lane as he barely moved in front of Mayer’s No. 41 Audibel Ford Mustang entry with the lead entering the first two turns. With Love leading Mayer, Creed and Kvapil in tight formation on the inside lane, Gray tried to mount a charge from the outside lane. With the field fanning out and scattering through the backstretch, Love continued to lead through Turns 3 and 4 before Gray got to Love’s rear bumper entering the frontstretch.
Then as Love approached the start/finish line to take the white flag and start the final lap, a multi-car wreck ensued as Allgaier got turned sideways and clipped Josh Williams, where the latter shot up the track and clipped Jeb Burton before he hit the outside wall head-on. Amid the carnage, multiple names including Ryan Sieg, Leland Honeyman, Josh Bilicki, Jordan Anderson and Ryan Ellis were involved.
By then, NASCAR declared that Love had managed to start the final lap of the event before the caution was displayed. As a result, Love cycled back to the frontstretch to claim the checkered flag under caution as he emerged victorious for the first time at Daytona.
With the victory, Love notched his second career victory in the Xfinity Series division, all of which have occurred on superspeedway events, and his first since he notched his first career win at Talladega Superspeedway in April 2024. As an added bonus, Love notched the 98th Xfinity Series career victory and the 10th at Daytona in the series for Richard Childress Racing. In addition, he delivered the first Xfinity victory to his veteran crew chief Danny Stockman Jr. since the latter won at Auto Club Speedway with Austin Dillon in March 2016.
Having claimed the 2024 Xfinity Series’ Rookie-of-the-Year title, Love, who credited his spotter Brandon Benesch for navigating him with the moves to maintain the lead, including the final one in front of Mayer during the overtime attempt, sets his sights on contending the first ever Xfinity title for himself and the first for team owner Richard Childress in six years.
“I just listened to the guy up [at the spotter’s stand], Brandon Benesch,” Love said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “I am so out of breath. Man, [I am] just so thankful to the good Lord above, for putting me in this position. So many people have helped me get to this point. We’re working on changing our culture here at [Richard Childress Racing]. We’re winners, we know we are. We all want to win a championship for Richard Childress. I’m ready to go get to Atlanta, I think, now. It’s awesome.”
“It takes me a little bit to get up front sometimes,” Love added. “I’m trying to play chess nowadays and not checkers at Daytona. Man, I’m lost for words. It’s Daytona. I always cry here when we do the national anthem. I’m starstruck. I love Florida. Thank everybody for coming out tonight. This place is super special to me and you guys are as good as Talladega fans now…We finally got a win for the Whelen car. That’s makes it even more special.”
As Love emerged victorious in first place, Sam Mayer settled in second place in his first event driving for the newly formed Haas Factory Team. Sheldon Creed, Mayer’s teammate, came home in third place while rookies Carson Kvapil and Taylor Gray finished in the top five.
Harrison Burton, Jordan Anderson, Dean Thompson, Jeremy Clements and Patrick Emerling completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Justin Allgaier, who was involved in the final lap multi-car melee mayhem, limped his damaged race car in 18th place while Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams, Leland Honeyman and Anthony Alfredo, all of whom were also involved and were unable to complete the final lap, finished 19th through 22nd, respectively. In addition, Sammy Smith, Justin Bonsignore, Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich settled in 24th, 25th, 27th and 28th, respectively, amid their respective late-race incidents while Hill was placed in 33rd place and with a DNF following his mechanical issue.
There were 24 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 39 laps. In addition, 18 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the first event of the 2025 Xfinity Series season, Sheldon Creed leads the regular-season standings by nine points over Jesse Love, 13 over rookie Dean Thompson, 14 over rookie Taylor Gray and 16 over teammate Sam Mayer.
Results:
1. Jesse Love, 30 laps led
2. Sam Mayer
3. Sheldon Creed, seven laps led
4. Carson Kvapil
5. Taylor Gray, one lap led
6. Harrison Burton, one lap led
7. Jordan Anderson
8. Dean Thompson
9. Jeremy Clements
10. Patrick Emerling
11. Matt DiBenedetto
12. Christian Eckes
13. Caesar Bacarella, four laps led
14. Josh Bilicki
15. Joey Gase
16. Jeb Burton, four laps led
17. Ryan Truex
18. Justin Allgaier, 11 laps led
19. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident, 10 laps led
20. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
21. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident
22. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident
23. Ryan Ellis, one lap down
24. Sammy Smith, one lap down, one lap led
25. Justin Bonsignore, three laps down
26. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Accident
27. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident, one lap led
28. William Sawalich – OUT, Accident
29. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident
30. Brennan Poole, 20 laps down
31. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Electrical
32. Kris Wright – OUT, Accident
33. Austin Hill – OUT, Rear End, 56 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
34. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Power Steering
35. Nick Sanchez – OUT, Accident
36. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Rear End
37. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident
38. Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident
With the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, February 22, and air at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network.
