WELCOME, N.C. – Courtesy of a consistent first year and a run to the playoff semifinals, Jesse Love earned the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR Xfinity Series following the Nov. 9 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Love, the 19-year-old phenom from Menlo Park, Calif., advanced to the Round of 8 in the postseason during his rookie campaign and finished eighth in the final point standings.

He earned a victory at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in April that qualified him for the playoffs, as well as seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in 33 races. Love also accrued a series-best five poles.

In leading 341 laps over the course of the season with the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, Love spent the fourth-most time out front among all full-time competitors.

It was a solid foundation that Love plans to build on when he returns to RCR for his second season in the Xfinity Series next year.

“Winning rookie-of-the-year honors in the Xfinity Series is special; you only get one chance to do it, and that was the goal that (crew chief Danny) Stockman and I set out to achieve when we started the year together,” said Love. “To win a race and make the playoffs so soon in my career at this level is something I’m proud of and it proved that we could compete at this level, but now we want to aim even higher.

“Knowing that we’ll be coming back with the same group of people and that I’ll have been to pretty much every track on the schedule is big for my confidence, and I believe we’ll have the tools we need to not only contend for wins on a weekly basis, but to make the Championship 4 and fight for the title as well.”

Love nearly won the Phoenix finale, taking the lead during the first attempt at overtime and nearly hanging on in double overtime before being passed by eventual race winner Riley Herbst and champion Justin Allgaier.

He faded back to sixth at the checkered flag, but still left the one-mile desert oval with accolades and his head held high.

“Our No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet was fast at Phoenix. The balance started tight, but Stockman made great adjustments to our Camaro to where the long run was our strong suit,” Love noted. “We played strategy early in order to save two sets of tires for the end of the race and luckily, we got a chance to put them on at the end. Our pit crew was fast all night and picked up positions on each stop. We restarted from the lead on the last restart and had a shot to win. The No. 98 (Herbst) just got to my right rear, the No. 7 (Allgaier) dove to my inside to push and then we lost a lot of time.

“I’m proud of our team’s effort all season. We’ve showed speed, ran up front, and closed strong with another top-10. Thank you to everyone at Richard Childress Racing and ECR Engines, Whelen and all of our partners for a great season. We will be ready to go and make our mark in 2025.”

The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season begins Saturday, Feb. 15 at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway with the running of the United Rentals 300. Broadcast coverage is slated for 5 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.