Jesse Love seizes career-first feat and makes history after Rockingham DQ

Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love bagged a historic pole position at Talladega Superspeedway during Friday's qualifying session in the NXS for the Ag-Pro 300. It was his fourth consecutive pole position at a drafting-style track, a feat that has never been achieved in the Xfinity Series.

What makes this pole position even more special is that it comes right after a difficult week at Rockingham. Jesse Love had originally won the race at Rockingham Speedway but was later disqualified, as NASCAR found an issue with the rear suspension of his No. 2 car during the post-race inspection. As a result, his win was taken away and given to Sammy Smith.

Despite the disappointment of last week, Love bounced back in a big way at Talladega. He secured the pole with a lap that was 0.188 seconds faster than his teammate Austin Hill, giving Richard Childress Racing a front-row lockout. This is Love’s seventh career Xfinity Series pole, and it comes in just his 44th career start.

After the qualifying session, Love was asked if he had any worries about other drivers turning a faster lap than him at Talladega. He responded with confidence, saying:

"Not really, I got a lot of faith in Danny Stockman and ECR power, CT Springs, all the guys back in Welcome always do a really good job here, so yeah, looking forward to tomorrow... I think we got a really good shot at it. I have never sat on the pole here at Talladega, so that's really cool. But yeah, I think that we have a really good shot tomorrow, just got to stay out front, and then when we do lose track position, keep a calm head and just kind of methodically make our way up." [0:08 onwards]

Behind Love and Hill, Justin Allgaier qualified third. Joey Gase and Jeb Burton followed in fourth and fifth. Rounding out the top ten are Taylor Gray, Josh Williams, Daniel Dye, Ryan Ellis, and Jeremy Clements.

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Jesse Love reacts after appeals panel upholds his disqualification at Rockingham

After Jesse Love was disqualified from the race last week, RCR filed an appeal to have the decision overturned. However, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel reviewed the case and ruled against the team on Wednesday. Love was then officially credited with a 37th-place finish in the Rockingham race.

Speaking about the panel's decision to uphold his disqualification, Love shared (via Bob Pockrass):

"My team doesn’t deserve to have that press around them. RCR doesn’t deserve to have that press around them. Neither does my crew chief, Danny Stockman, and a lot of that falls on their shoulders and his shoulders." (0:45 onwards)

"I feel like at the end of the day, and I need to be careful about how I word this, but I feel like I maybe got penalized myself for racing too hard, and I think that’s where I’m a little upset."

As a result of the disqualification, Jesse Love lost one spot in the Xfinity drivers’ standings and currently sits in the fourth spot with 287 points to his name. He is 124 points behind the championship leader, Justin Allgaier.