"Biting my tongue because I don't want to be negative"- Jesse Love unhappy with winner Ryan Truex's maneuver at Dover

Richard Childress Racing Xfinity Series driver Jesse Love expressed displeasure over Joe Gibbs Racing rival Ryan Truex's questionable move at the Dover Motor Speedway.

The tenth Xfinity Series weekend was wrapped up, with Truex bagging his maiden win this season, and second consecutive at the Monster Mile. After keeping his #20 Toyota in contention during the double overtime, the JGR driver etched the 208-lap BetRivers 200 to his name.

However, during Lap 103 in Dover, a door-to-door battle with the race winner for fifth place proved costly for Jesse Love as his #2 Chevy stooped from contention to the back of the pack.

While scrounging for the lead, Ryan Truex lost a bit of control and rammed into the RCR driver's car. The contact slashed the rear left Goodyear compound of the Californian and he was left with no option but to give up his track position and pit for a fresh set of rubber.

The incident became the reason for Jesse Love's dismal outing, who's fresh off his maiden NASCAR victory from the Ag-Pro 300 at the Talladega Superspeedway. Post his saddening P24 finish, the #2 driver vented his annoyance over Truex, saying (via Frontstretch on X):

"Biting my tongue because I don't want to be negative. It sucks because I thought at some points we were the best car on the racetrack. He [Ryan Truex] got into me getting into [turn] three and we're all racing side by side. Shucked me up to the top and then runs out of talent getting into [turn] one."

Jesse Love speaks up on exceeding his own expectations before his Dover run

Love is observing his rookie year with Richard Childress Racing and has been portraying his racing prowess from the beginning of the season. His first two NASCAR stints, at the Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, saw him bag the pole position.

The 19-year-old ran a remarkable stint during his fourth run at Phoenix, but fell shy of a victory, coming home with the second place finish. However, five races later, the #2 Chevrolet driver clinched his first win in Talladega after dominating 28 laps on the 2.66-mile oval.

With one win, three top-5s, and six top-10s, Jesse Love is placed fourth in the Xfinity rankings in his rookie year. Regarding his overwhelming footing into the season, the RCR driver, during a pre-race press conference, was asked if he exceeded his own expectations, to which he replied:

“Yeah I’d say it’s gone better than what I expected. I kind of figured I was going to have to you know, work through a lot of growing pains and things like that. Have had a chance to win most weekends. And even we weren’t great, we were still able to kind of grind out a good finish. So I think that’s what’s kind of been the strong point of our team." (2.39)