Jesse Love sits second in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship standings, but so far, he’s suffered through a very frustrating 2026 campaign. There’s a chance Love’s frustrations boil over into Saturday’s United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 at Naval Base Coronado.
On Saturday, NASCAR issued pre-race penalties to Love and his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing team due to the thickness of the lug nuts on the team’s Chevrolet in pre-race inspection. Love’s lug nuts were deemed too narrow.
Due to the infraction, NASCAR didn’t allow Love to compete in Saturday’s qualifying session, which means he will start at the rear of the field in San Diego. Additionally, Love will have to make a pass-through penalty following the initial start of the race on Saturday, and the infraction will have ramifications next weekend as well, as the driver and his team will lose pit selection at Sonoma Raceway.
Fortunately, for Love, the street course in San Diego is 3.4 miles in length, and it takes more than two seconds to complete a lap around the course. This means Love will remain on the lead lap, barring some unforeseen circumstances. He’ll also have the benefit of Stage cautions to help him close the gap in the United Rentals 250.
Love, the defending series champion, comes into Saturday’s race in San Diego 250 points behind Justin Allgaier, the series point leader. Over his last four starts, Love, who is winless this season, has three finishes outside of the top-15, including a 37th-place DNF due to an opening-lap crash last weekend at Pocono Raceway.
Earlier this week, Love announced that he will move to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2027 and will drive the legendary No. 21 Ford for Wood Brothers Racing. However, Love still has unfinished business in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and he’ll look to take care of it starting this weekend, as he begins the race behind the eight-ball thanks to the pre-race penalties.
