By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Last November at Phoenix Raceway, Jesse Love won the NASCAR O’Reilly Series championship.
On Saturday at the same one-mile track, he may have done it again with a victory in the Timberland PRO 200.
Race Results: Timberland PRO 200 at Phoenix
Unlike last year, however, there are three races left in the O’Reilly Series Chase, run under a new nine-race format this season. But with his second win at Phoenix, his second this season and the fifth of his career, Love established himself as the convincing frontrunner for the series title.
In a race that spelled disaster for former Chase leader Sheldon Creed, Love opened a 36-point lead over second-place Justin Allgaier, who finished third. Fourth-place finisher Corey Day is 39 points behind in third, with Creed falling to fourth in the standings, 59 points back, after finishing 32nd, two laps down.
“I would say it’s a day we prepared for, not just dreamed of,” Love said after climbing from his car. “I’ve got a great group around me, just preparing me to be in these situations, to be calm, cool and collected.
“I’ve learned from a lot of mistakes that allow me to execute at a high-level at a track like this. I’ve been here, it feels like, a million times… Grateful to the fans for coming out. It’s my favorite race track. I love coming to Arizona—I’m a West Coast kid.”
The 21-year-old from Clovis, California, swept the first and second stages and led 156 of 200 laps, scoring 75 points for his efforts—one short of the maximum. The statistics, however, don’t tell the story. Over the final 35-lap green-flag run, race runner-up Sam Mayer hounded the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet all the way to the finish line.
Gaining ground over the final two laps, Mayer got to Love’s bumper off the final corner but finished 0.128 seconds behind the race winner. Mayer’s effort was all the more spectacular, given that his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet started the race from the rear of the field after an engine change.
“Hats off to them, man,” Love said. “The 41 team did a great job coming from the back and making their car better. Honestly, it felt like they were a little better than we were at the end. I was having to just drive a lot over the tire to make any sort of lap time.
“I’m just grateful to be in a situation to win races. I’ve got a great pit crew who just maul everybody on pit road every week. It makes my job a lot easier. I’m really proud of the whole group.”
Mayer, who remained sixth in the Chase standings, 86 points behind Love, knew he had narrowly missed an important opportunity.
“Good job to him (Love)—he drove a great race,” Mayer said. “We definitely pressured him the whole time. It came down to making a mistake or not, and he executed really well. Really close…
“The Hendrick Engine shop brought a really good engine for us—two of them, technically I guess, ‘cause we blew one up. I haven’t had fun this year like that. That was just a lot of fun. It was just great racing, and hopefully we put on a show for everyone at home.
“That’s some pretty big championship implications if we could have won that one. I’m looking at the numbers right here, and they look pretty ugly for the old 41 and, honestly, the 00 (Creed), too.”
Creed, who entered the race with a two-point Chase lead, finished second to Love in the first stage with no idea what was about to happen to his car. During the caution for the stage break, a “kill switch” malfunction shut off the engine of his Chevrolet, and Creed lost three laps on pit road as his crew tried to get the car to refire.
It was only through attrition that Creed climbed from 37th to 32nd at the finish.
Sammy Smith finished fifth, followed by Brandon Jones, who lost a lap early after a move to wet tires during a brief shower in the first stage. Dean Thompson, William Sawalich, Rajah Caruth and Carson Kvapil finished seventh through 10th, respectively.
Next up for the O’Reilly Series drivers is The Progress Group 250 on Oct. 24 at Talladega Superspeedway (3:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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