“Zero attempts to pass”: Jesse Love Jr.‘s savage reply to William Savalich’s battle against Connor Zilisch for the ARCA win at Iowa

Friday's ARCA Menards Series race, the Atlas 150 at Iowa Speedway, was a close battle between two development drivers- William Sawalich and Connor Zilisch. However, NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love, also known as Jesse Love Jr. has recently observed that Sawalich made zero efforts to pass Zilisch.

The Richard Childress Racing speedster suggested that Sawalich nudged the Pinnacle Racing Group driver several times as the field turned green after the final restart.

As reported by motorsport.com, the duo put fenders into each other thrice over the last 23 laps. Still, Connor Zilisch capitalized on the final restart and defeated Sawalich by 0.513 seconds.

Love Jr. posted a video of the field following the final restart on his official X account, and captioned it, saying,

"Zero attempts to pass 👌"

Zilisch felt somewhat the same way about Sawalich's antics. In an interview with FOX, as reported by Frontstretch, the 17-year-old NASCAR driver said,

“I don’t know what I could’ve done differently, I feel like he just drove up the track and tried wrecking me, and he about tried right hooking me down the back straightaway."

Nevertheless, Connor Zilisch earned his second victory of the season and with that, he became the first repeat-winner for Pinnacle Racing Group at Iowa Speedway. Last year, Luke Fenhaus bagged a win for PRG at the 0.875-mile short-track oval in Newton.

Jesse Love Jr. responded to Connor Zilisch's feedback on the Iowa repave

Hours before the HyVee Perks 250, Jesse Love shared a picture of Connor Zilisch at Iowa showing a thumbs down, reflecting the latter's verdict on the latest repave. Love captioned the post, saying,

"Connor’s verdict. Agree or disagree?"

Minutes later, Jesse Love Jr. took to the comments section and explained his take on the repave. He felt that passing would be extremely difficult and therefore, the restarts would be wild. Needless to say, the drivers would be aggressive.

"Food for thought. It’s challenge coming here with the repave how it is. While it’s not ideal," Love explained, "there are things that can make it exciting. The tracks gonna change a ton throughout the weekend. It’s gonna be hard to pass so restarts will be everything. Drivers will be aggressive."

"Saying this because I think it’s much easier to bash places instead of trying to find the good in it. It’s going to be such a challenge to win this weekend because of it. And drivers will have to adapt quickly," he added.

Sadly, Love's run at the Iowa Speedway on Saturday was marred by a broken tire towards the end of Stage 2 on lap 150 right around turn four, and not by the aggression of a fellow driver. His #2 Chevrolet Camaro then caught fire and was soon towed back to the garage.

Unfortunately, Jesse Love Jr. finished the race 31st and was awarded a DNF. Currently, he stands fifth on the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings with 402 points to his credit. Love's next race is the Sci Aps 200 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 22.