While the vast majority of the NASCAR Xfinity Series field decided to use the off-weekend to rest, ahead of an upcoming trip to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Jesse Love had other ideas.
The two-time Xfinity Series race-winner, who drives the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, spent the weekend in Lexington, Ohio, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course competing in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Series.
A native of Menlo Park, California, Love debuted in the series last March at Sebring International Raceway, collecting finishes of 12th and 21st-place while driving the No. 2 Whelen-sponsored entry for Hendricks Motorsports.
This season, Love joined forces with BSI Racing to compete in the seventh and eighth rounds of the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Championship at Mid-Ohio, a racetrack at which Love has competed in the ARCA Menards Series.
The 20-year-old driver, despite his limited experience in the series, put together a decent weekend at the 2.258-mile road course, landing his entry inside the top-10 on the speed charts in the opening practice session.
For the first of two events on the weekend, Love posted the 19th-fastest qualifying time and, throughout the duration of the 27-lap contest, was able to climb his way inside the top-10, finishing tenth.
Jeremy Fletcher, driving for McCumbee McAleer Racing, won the first of two feature events on the weekend, beating rookie Helio Meza by 0.882 seconds at the finish. Gresham Wagner, Nathan Nicholson, and Justin Adakonis completed the top five.
For the second event of the doubleheader weekend, set to take place on Sunday, Love qualified in the middle of the pack, starting from 20th. However, the event had one major difference from Saturday: the racetrack was wet.
With several full-course yellows being displayed throughout the 45-minute event, it became more difficult for Love to methodically climb his way through the pack, which left the Xfinity Series driver to finish 13th.
Ethan Goulart, a rookie driver for Saito Motorsport Group, took the victory by a narrow margin of 0.131 seconds over runner-up Nathan Nicholson on Sunday. Jeremy Fletcher, Nate Cicero, and Westin Workman rounded out the top five.
With an exciting weekend of racing in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Series complete, Love will now turn his attention back to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he’ll hit the road course of Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, as part of NASCAR’s return to Mexico City.
