Jesse Love has addressed the last-lap wreck with Connor Zilisch during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Zilisch looked to be ready to secure the victory at the iconic circuit. However, after contact with Love, he lost his lead as he spun across the track and collided with the barriers head-on. Thankfully, the JR Motorsports driver was later cleared by the infield medical center.
While speaking to the media immediately after the race, the Richard Childress Racing driver was keen to make sure his friend was okay. Love explained:
“I just got really good pushes there at the end.
“I was able to lift enough off of [Turn] 2 to get big pushes. I kind of thought we made our bed and were not in a good spot to win, and then I was able to get Austin [Hill] connected to me and he was able to give me some good pushes down the backstretch for a few laps. It was definitely tough how that ended. I hope my friend is okay.
“I’m not going to comment on what I thought happened there yet. I just want to go check on him and make sure he’s alright. Looked like a really hard hit, and he really hasn’t taken many hard hits yet.”
Love went on to finish in third, after starting from pole position. Speaking to the media ahead of the race yesterday, he had commented:
“[I’m] Looking forward to tomorrow. Obviously, my car’s as fast as Xfinity Mobile. I think we got a really good shot at [the race win].
“I’ve never sat on the pole here at Talladega, so that’s really cool. Just got to stay out front and when we do lose track position, [I’ll] keep a calm head and just kind of methodically make our way up and not make any little percentage moves that put us back a few rows.”
It’s been a tricky couple of weeks for Love after he was disqualified from Rockingham last week. The win was inherited by Sammy Smith.
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway results
- Austin Hill – Finished
- Jeb Burton – Finished
- Jesse Love – Finished
- Justin Allgaier – Finished
- Matt DiBenedetto – Finished
- Anthony Alfredo – Finished
- Blaine Perkins – Finished
- Harrison Burton – Finished
- Sheldon Creed – Finished
- Daniel Dye – Finished
- Taylor Gray – Finished
- Patrick Emerling – Finished
- Leland Honeyman – Finished
- Sam Mayer – Finished
- Nick Sanchez – Finished
- Ryan Ellis – Finished
- Carson Kvapil – Finished
- Dean Thompson – Finished
- Brennan Poole – Finished
- Jesse Iwuji – Finished
- Joey Gase – Finished
- Mason Maggio – Finished
- Kyle Sieg – Finished
- Kris Wright – Finished
- Christian Eckes – Finished
- Jeremy Clements – Finished
- Connor Zilisch – Finished
- Brandon Jones – Finished
- Josh Williams – Finished
- Caesar Bacarella – Finished
- Sammy Smith – Finished
- Jeffrey Earnhardt – Out
- Aric Almirola – Out
- Katherine Legge – Out
- Greg Van Alst – Out
- Ryan Sieg – Out
- William Sawalich – Out
- Parker Retzlaff – Out
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