Jesse Love has spent most of 2026 doing something rather unusual for a defending NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion.
He hasn’t won.
Until Saturday night.
Love finally ended his 25-race winless streak at World Wide Technology Raceway, taking advantage of a late-race opportunity to pass Carson Kvapil and win the second race of The Chase.
And considering the amount of chaos unfolding everywhere else, Love probably figured the best strategy was to keep his head down, keep the car pointed in the right direction and let everyone else make a mess of things.
That strategy worked beautifully.
Love moved Kvapil up the track with 17 laps remaining, cleared the No. 1 Chevrolet off Turn 2 one lap later and never gave the lead back. Sheldon Creed, fresh off his victory at Darlington Raceway, finished second, with Haas Factory Team teammates Sam Mayer and Taylor Gray fourth and third, respectively, and Kvapil settling for fifth.
It was Love’s fourth career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory and his first since winning at Martinsville last year.
“Just had to put ’em on the dash,” Love said. “It’s been really hard, but I knew if I keep my grit, if I keep my tenacity, if I keep my work ethic… eventually, one of these opportunities is going to be there and I’m going to frickin’ take it.”
Well, eventually arrived Saturday night.
Creed’s runner-up finish was nearly as important as Love’s victory. The Darlington winner leaves Gateway as the series points leader, ending Justin Allgaier’s lengthy reign at the top of the standings.
Creed now leads Allgaier by three points heading into next week’s Chase race at Bristol, while Love sits fourth, just 16 points behind Creed.
Allgaier had to work considerably harder than anyone would have preferred for his 13th-place finish.
The defending champion was running inside the top 10 when he became an innocent-looking participant in the increasingly complicated feud between Corey Day and William Sawalich.
That feud had already produced fireworks at Darlington, where contact between the two sent Sawalich out of the race.
Apparently, neither man felt the need to let the matter rest.
At Lap 134, Day washed up the track through Turn 1 and made contact with Sawalich. Sawalich responded by turning left into Day as they headed down the backstretch, sending Day into the inside wall and out of the race.
Day finished 33rd, a miserable result after entering Gateway fifth in the Chase standings.
And that wasn’t even the night’s biggest bit of stupidity.
That honor came earlier, during the Stage 1 pit stops, when a chain-reaction incident turned pit road into a demolition derby. Chase contender Rajah Caruth was spun after traffic checked up, collecting Nick Sanchez and Harrison Burton and causing significant damage.
The incident also came dangerously close to Brent Crews’ pit stall, where his crew was servicing the No. 19. Two crew members were contacted in the melee, although both were unharmed.
Taylor Gray had already experienced his own moment of excitement on Lap 13 when he spun while racing Caruth for ninth. Neither car suffered damage.
Austin Hill, meanwhile, appeared headed for a strong finish before an unscheduled pit stop with four laps remaining dropped the Chase contender to 29th, one lap down.
So while Love finally found victory lane again, Gateway did what Gateway does best: provide just enough racing and considerably more drama.
Love gets the trophy.
Creed gets the points lead.
And the rest of the Chase field gets to head to Bristol and do this all over again.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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