Jesse Love, driver of the No. 2 NASCAR Chevy, defended the top spot in the season-opening Xfinity Series race at Daytona on February 15th, 2025 even as chaos unraveled in his rearview.
Absolute chaos is par for the course for the Xfinity Series at Daytona. Love was able to get out front and stay out front through three late-race restarts, battling against the No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse of Sheldon Creed, who tried to mount a charge in the other lane. Once Love got to the point with 18 laps left, though, he didn’t look back.
That might not have been possible, had Love’s Richard Childress Racing (RCR) teammate, Austin Hill, stayed in the race. Unfortunately, the No. 21 NASCAR Chevy went nuclear, forcing Hill to retire early from the race. Hill has won the Xfinity Daytona opener three times and was on track to do it a fourth time until the mechanical failure sent him behind the wall. While it was unfortunate for Hill, Love picked up where his teammate left off.
“So many people have helped me get to this point,” Love said after the race. “Not sure what happened to the 21 [Hill] tonight, but he was really dominant tonight. We’re working on changing our culture here at RCR. We’re winners, we know we are and we really want to win a championship for Richard Childress. I’m ready to go to [the next race at] Atlanta now.”
Hill was understandably disappointed. “Such a bummer, we had such a fast Chevrolet,” he said. “Everybody at RCR and ECR did a great job building this race car. We showed we were the dominant team again getting the stage wins there. I just wish that we could have lost this race on our terms, not from a mechanical failure.”
The Fords of Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed finished second and third, respectively. Carson Kvapil’s No. 1 NASCAR Chevy finished fourth, while Taylor Gray brought his Toyota across the line in fifth.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 2 | Jesse Love | Whelen Chevrolet | 126 | 30 | Chevrolet |
| 2 | 8 | 41 | Sam Mayer | Audibel Ford | 126 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 3 | 6 | 00 | Sheldon Creed | Friends of Jaclyn Ford | 126 | 7 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 10 | 1 | Carson Kvapil # | Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Tech Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 5 | 2 | 54 | Taylor Gray # | Operation 300 Toyota | 126 | 1 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 6 | 32 | 25 | Harrison Burton | Dead On Tools Ford | 126 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 7 | 38 | 32 | Jordan Anderson | Volpi Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 19 | 26 | Dean Thompson # | Thompson Pipe Group Toyota | 126 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 9 | 25 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 10 | 35 | 07 | Patrick Emerling | Firman Power Equipment Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 11 | 30 | 99 | Matt DiBenedetto | Viking Motorsports Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 12 | 3 | 16 | Christian Eckes # | Celsius Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 13 | 36 | 45 | Caesar Bacarella | Mongoose Power Solutions Chevrolet | 126 | 4 | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 29 | 91 | Josh Bilicki | Rita's Italian Ice Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 15 | 37 | 53 | Joey Gase | NCPC Race Against Crime Chevrolet | 126 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 16 | 22 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Golden Corral Chevrolet | 126 | 4 | Chevrolet |
| 17 | 33 | 24 | Ryan Truex | BB Printing Co Toyota | 126 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 18 | 1 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | BRANDT Chevrolet | 126 | 11 | Chevrolet |
| 19 | 14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Sci Aps Ford | 125 | 10 | Chevrolet |
| 20 | 21 | 11 | Josh Williams | Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 34 | 70 | Leland Honeyman | DPR Construction Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 22 | 27 | 42 | Anthony Alfredo | Dude Wipes Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 24 | 71 | Ryan Ellis | Classic Collision Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 24 | 13 | 8 | Sammy Smith | TMC Transportation Chevrolet | 125 | 1 | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 15 | 19 | Justin Bonsignore | M3 Technology Toyota | 123 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 26 | 16 | 35 | Greg Van Alst | CB Fabricating Chevrolet | 120 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 27 | 20 | 88 | Connor Zilisch # | WeatherTech Chevrolet | 118 | 1 | Chevrolet |
| 28 | 5 | 18 | William Sawalich # | Soundgear Toyota | 118 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 29 | 28 | 4 | Parker Retzlaff | Visual Pak/Rewind It 10 Chevrolet | 118 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 30 | 18 | 44 | Brennan Poole | Macc Door Systems Chevrolet | 105 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 31 | 31 | 14 | Garrett Smithley | Hire Heroes/The Veterans Ranch Chevrolet | 95 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 32 | 17 | 5 | Kris Wright | First National Bank Corp Chevrolet | 86 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 33 | 4 | 21 | Austin Hill | Bennett Transportation Chevrolet | 82 | 56 | Chevrolet |
| 34 | 26 | 31 | Blaine Perkins | WERNER Chevrolet | 79 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 35 | 11 | 48 | Nick Sanchez # | Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers Chevrolet | 59 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 36 | 23 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | Toppool.com Ford | 22 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 37 | 7 | 20 | Brandon Jones | Menards/Swiffer Toyota | 5 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 38 | 12 | 10 | Daniel Dye # | Champion Container Chevrolet | 5 | 0 | Chevrolet |
Comment
Well, nascar in their wisdom changed the xfinity over to The CW channel or app or whatever they want to call it. It’s not listed on my regular subscription, so they’ve chosen to make it harder for viewers to find/watch. Oh, well, guess I’ll find something better to watch now, & now that they care, but bye nascar xfinity!!!!!!!!