Race report

ARCA Chicagoland

Two-time ARCA West champ Jesse Love Jr. wins at Talladega

Jesse Love Jr. grabbed the lead on a restart with eight laps to go and held off his Venturini Motorsports teammate Gus Dean to win Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Jim Utter

Edited: Apr 23, 2023, 6:16 PM

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Talladega building

Andres Perez de Lara led on the final restart with eight of 76 laps remaining, but Love got a big push back to the lead.

Dean tried to gather some help on the final lap to make a run on Love but the plan didn’t pan out and Love beat Dean by 0.129 seconds to the checkered flag.

The win is the first this season for Love, 18, and third of his career. His previous two wins have come at Salem (a short track) and Springfield (dirt track).

Love said he made an extra effort to try to remain calm during what is usually very hectic superspeedway racing.

“I got yelled at Daytona by my spotter Tyler Monn, telling me to stay level-headed and that you don’t win races getting worked up,” said Love, who led 35 laps. “I couldn’t believe it was the white flag. I was still calm and he was doing a great job.

“I love Talladega. I was here last year on the spotter’s stand watching Tyler win with Noah (Gragson). I’m so happy.”

Love, a native of Menlo Park., Calif., has been racing in ARCA competition since he was 15 years old. He is a two-time champion of what is now the ARCA West Series, where he won five times in two seasons.

“That last lap is really hard to get done (with teammates) especially when you have a driver like Jesse and equipment that’s just as good as yours and not a ton of help from behind,” Dean said.

“The No. 2 (Perez de Lara) gave us all the help they could give. We just didn’t have a lot of help behind him. Tried to make it happen, just a little bit shy. Had an awesome time.”

Bret Holmes finished third, Perez de Lara was fourth and Sean Corr rounded out the top-five.

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