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Jesse Love Endures Miserable Conditions to Score Sixth Win of 2023 in Overtime at Michigan

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Jesse Love, despite feeling under the weather, endured the heat of Michigan International Speedway to pick up his sixth ARCA Menards Series victory of the season in the Henry Ford Health 200. Photo: Eric Bronson / ARCA Racing

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.”

 

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:

FinStNo.DriverTeamLapsDiffStatusPoints
1520Jesse LoveVenturini Motorsports
JBL
Toyota
105---Running47
2225Gus DeanVenturini Motorsports
Dean Custom Air
Toyota
1050.115Running43
3318Connor MosackJoe Gibbs Racing
Mobil 1
Toyota
1050.249Running42
4873Andy JankowiakKLAS Motorsports
Toyota
1050.768Running40
5730Frankie MunizRette Jones Racing
Ford
1051.248Running39
61511Morgen BairdFast Track Racing
Long Drink / Experience Jackson
Toyota
1051.406Running38
71032Christian RoseAM Racing
West Virginia Department of Tourism
Ford
1051.474Running37
8972Cody CoughlinCoughlin Brothers Racing
JEGS / Cody Coughlin Co
Ford
1051.657Running36
91110Gage RodgersFast Track Racing
Volara Foam
Toyota
1052.171Running35
101466Jon GarrettVeer Motorsports
Venture Foods
Chevrolet
1057.098Running34
11655Kris WrightVenturini Motorsports
FNB Corporation
Toyota
1041 lapRunning33
12415Jake FinchVenturini Motorsports
Phoenix
Toyota
1032 lapsRunning32
131397Jason KitzmillerCR7 Motorsports
A.L.L. Construction
Chevrolet
1014 lapsRunning31
141765Jeffery MacZinkMacZink Racing
Syncon Flooring / Parkway Services / Innovative Fluids
Toyota
1005 lapsRunning30
151693Caleb CostnerCostner Weaver Motorsports
Swidorski Brothers Trucking & Excavating
Chevrolet
987 lapsRunning29
162231Tim GouletRise Motorsports
Auto DNA Collision and Detail
Chevrolet
969 lapsRunning28
1712Andres Perez de laraRev Racing
Max Siegel Inc
Chevrolet
9114 lapsOUT29
181269Scott MeltonKimmel Racing
Melton McFadden Insurance / Donna’s Donuts
Toyota
8025 lapsRunning26
192148Brad SmithBrad Smith Motorsports
Copraya.com
Ford
5352 lapsOUT25
202006A.J. MoyerWayne Peterson Racing
Riversedgevt.com / JCRpays.com
Ford
1986 lapsOUT24
211812Tim MonroeFast Track Racing
Ford
897 lapsOUT23
221903Alex ClubbClubb Racing Inc.
Ford
4101 lapsOUT22
232349Jeff SmithBrad Smith Motorsports
Copraya.com
Chevrolet
0105 lapsDid not start21

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