Jesse Love won his seventh ARCA Menards Series of the season on Friday evening at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
That in itself was not a shocker, given that Love has won 58 percent of the national events on the 2023 schedule and holds an 82-point lead over former “Malcolm in the Middle”
actor Frankie Muniz in the series standings.
But Love had to work hard for his victory in the Reese’s 200. The 18-year-old Venturini Motorsports driver took advantage of a late restart to beat 19-year-old Wisconsinite Luke
Fenhaus to the finish line by .357 seconds.
“Sometimes you just have to will it to happen and find a way,” Love told the NASCAR Wire Service after the race. “He put me in a tough spot when he slid me for the lead (before
the final caution). I knew I had one on him that I could kind of return the favor.
“It was still clean. It was a clean slide job, but I was coming up no matter what.”
Fenhaus won his first ARCA start at Iowa and was hoping to become the first driver since current NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Brandon Jones to win his first two races in the series, a feat Jones accomplished in 2014.
This won’t be the last time the two talented drivers battle for a national series win. Pending sufficient sponsorship, you can expect them to progress through higher levels of NASCAR racing sooner rather than later.
