Although he didn’t end up dominating Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event at Michigan International Speedway, Jesse Love had to fight against several tough competitors on track to score his sixth victory of the year in the Henry Ford Health 200.
Love, who led the second-highest number of laps in Friday’s event, was able to take advantage of a messy restart by Connor Mosack to score his eighth career victory in the ARCA Menards Series, leading the final seven laps of the 200-mile contest.
The 18-year-old driver would be lucky enough to get to victory lane after the conclusion of the 100-lap event, but would first need to make an unscheduled stop at the infield care center, after battling an illness throughout the entire day on Friday.
To make matters even worse for the Venturini Motorsports driver, he ran the race without the use of his cool suit, his helmet blower, or his feet blower, meaning things were running hot inside the No. 20 JBL Toyota Camry.
“I feel like I’m in pretty good shape, I go on runs with my dog Buck every day, and CQ is going to yell at me when she sees how messed up I am,” Love said after the race. “With this right-side window, we’re so hot in here, and just it’s a lot easier with a phenomenal crew chief in Shannon Rursch that makes my job really easy, and Billy Venturini gives us all the resources we need.”
What a drive by this 18-year-old.
Not only did he get his sixth #ARCA win of the year – which in itself is incredible – but he did so while feeling under the weather.
If you weren’t watching @jesselovejr1 already, maybe you should start. 💪
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) August 5, 2023
Throughout the majority of Friday’s event, the ARCA Menards Series field put on one of their best shows in quite some time, with a number of drivers doing battle at the front of the pack, and battling hard for the lead.
Andres Perez de Lara appeared the be the class of the field in the No. 2 Chevrolet for Rev Racing, leading a race-high 43 laps, but suffered engine issues late in the going, which not only relegated him to a 17th-place result but drew a late-race caution.
With fluid on the track, that left a one-lap shootout for the leaders, in which Connor Mosack, driving the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing, held the lead, before spinning the tires and getting a major shove from Kris Wright.
That messy restart allowed Love to surge back to the lead of the race, leaving the subsequent restart to be easy for the Menlo Park, California native, where he scored the win by more than a tenth of a second.
Gus Dean, a teammate to Love at Venturini Motorsports, came home in the runner-up position, his best result on a non-superspeedway in the ARCA Menards Series since Salem in 2018.
Connor Mosack rebounded to third place on the final lap of the race, while Andy Jankowiak and Frankie Muniz both scored career-best results in fourth and fifth place.
Morgan Baird finished sixth, while Christian Rose, Cody Coughlin, Gage Rodgers, and Jon Garrett the top-10, in a triple top-10 result for Fast Track Racing.
Leaving Michigan, the ARCA Menards Series will head to Indianapolis Raceway Park for the 12th event of the season, where Jesse Love has massively extended his points lead over runner-up Frankie Muniz, who is 82 points back of the lead.
2023 ARCA Menards Series Henry Ford Health 200 Race Results:
| Fin | St | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Diff | Status | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 20 | Jesse Love | Venturini Motorsports JBL Toyota | 105 | --- | Running | 47 |
| 2 | 2 | 25 | Gus Dean | Venturini Motorsports Dean Custom Air Toyota | 105 | 0.115 | Running | 43 |
| 3 | 3 | 18 | Connor Mosack | Joe Gibbs Racing Mobil 1 Toyota | 105 | 0.249 | Running | 42 |
| 4 | 8 | 73 | Andy Jankowiak | KLAS Motorsports Toyota | 105 | 0.768 | Running | 40 |
| 5 | 7 | 30 | Frankie Muniz | Rette Jones Racing Ford | 105 | 1.248 | Running | 39 |
| 6 | 15 | 11 | Morgen Baird | Fast Track Racing Long Drink / Experience Jackson Toyota | 105 | 1.406 | Running | 38 |
| 7 | 10 | 32 | Christian Rose | AM Racing West Virginia Department of Tourism Ford | 105 | 1.474 | Running | 37 |
| 8 | 9 | 72 | Cody Coughlin | Coughlin Brothers Racing JEGS / Cody Coughlin Co Ford | 105 | 1.657 | Running | 36 |
| 9 | 11 | 10 | Gage Rodgers | Fast Track Racing Volara Foam Toyota | 105 | 2.171 | Running | 35 |
| 10 | 14 | 66 | Jon Garrett | Veer Motorsports Venture Foods Chevrolet | 105 | 7.098 | Running | 34 |
| 11 | 6 | 55 | Kris Wright | Venturini Motorsports FNB Corporation Toyota | 104 | 1 lap | Running | 33 |
| 12 | 4 | 15 | Jake Finch | Venturini Motorsports Phoenix Toyota | 103 | 2 laps | Running | 32 |
| 13 | 13 | 97 | Jason Kitzmiller | CR7 Motorsports A.L.L. Construction Chevrolet | 101 | 4 laps | Running | 31 |
| 14 | 17 | 65 | Jeffery MacZink | MacZink Racing Syncon Flooring / Parkway Services / Innovative Fluids Toyota | 100 | 5 laps | Running | 30 |
| 15 | 16 | 93 | Caleb Costner | Costner Weaver Motorsports Swidorski Brothers Trucking & Excavating Chevrolet | 98 | 7 laps | Running | 29 |
| 16 | 22 | 31 | Tim Goulet | Rise Motorsports Auto DNA Collision and Detail Chevrolet | 96 | 9 laps | Running | 28 |
| 17 | 1 | 2 | Andres Perez de lara | Rev Racing Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet | 91 | 14 laps | OUT | 29 |
| 18 | 12 | 69 | Scott Melton | Kimmel Racing Melton McFadden Insurance / Donna’s Donuts Toyota | 80 | 25 laps | Running | 26 |
| 19 | 21 | 48 | Brad Smith | Brad Smith Motorsports Copraya.com Ford | 53 | 52 laps | OUT | 25 |
| 20 | 20 | 06 | A.J. Moyer | Wayne Peterson Racing Riversedgevt.com / JCRpays.com Ford | 19 | 86 laps | OUT | 24 |
| 21 | 18 | 12 | Tim Monroe | Fast Track Racing Ford | 8 | 97 laps | OUT | 23 |
| 22 | 19 | 03 | Alex Clubb | Clubb Racing Inc. Ford | 4 | 101 laps | OUT | 22 |
| 23 | 23 | 49 | Jeff Smith | Brad Smith Motorsports Copraya.com Chevrolet | 0 | 105 laps | Did not start | 21 |
