It’s been an emotional 72 hours for everybody at Richard Childress Racing.
With the unexpected passing of NASCAR Cup Series legend Kyle Busch on Thursday, due to complications from pneumonia, the hundreds of people employed within the walls of the team’s Welcome, North Carolina-based campus have had to pull themselves together and go to work, in hopes of honoring the two-time Cup Series champion with a victory.
For the 21-year-old NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion who said on Thursday that Busch was his “first hero” and “the first driver [he] ever wanted to be like,” the stakes may have been just a little bit higher… which makes the pain of a runner-up finish in Saturday’s Charbroil 300 sting a little bit more.
The Menlo Park, California-native found himself in the fight for the victory throughout the entire evening, and at one point, towards what ended up being the end of the race, was throwing slide jobs back-and-forth with eventual race-winner Ross Chastain.
When the final caution of the event was displayed at Lap 73, after Dawson Cram dropped a river of fluid on the racetrack in Turns 1 and 2, Love found himself second. But, the defending series champion knew he’d have another shot… or at least he thought he would.
Due to a combination of a lengthy cleanup, a persistent mist that appeared while under yellow, and the rapid descent of the ceiling around Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR chose to run the final 18 laps of the race under the caution flag, before crossing the end of Stage 2 ever — the point where the race would become official.
In the process of those laps being run under the caution, Love clocked exactly what was going on, and was LIVID on the radio.
“We’re really going to run this shit out, aren’t we?” Love said.
“Tell the tower I said this is ridiculous, all day.”
“Fucking joke.”
As it turns out, Love knew exactly what was going on. When the green-and-white-checkered flag waved to finish Stage 2, NASCAR brought the field down pit road and threw the red flag, only to, moments later, declare Ross Chastain the winner of the Charbroil 300.
Needless to say, Jesse Love wasn’t pleased.
“Obviously, it’s a… like, I’m mad, right, so I think it’s a complete joke handling it how they handled it,” a despondent Jesse Love told The CW post-race. “I was really made when I got out of the car, for obvious reasons, being on top of the pit box, and realized I gotta do an interview, and then I kind of realized if this week has taught us anything, it’s that this all doesn’t matter as much as we think it does, right?”
“There are things way more important than a trophy, so as much as I’m angry, and confused, and upset, I also, again, realize there are a lot of hurt people, right now, and this week has taught us that there are things so much bigger than racing. I think as much as it hurts, I think we can find some okayness and knowing that, right, again I’m feeling so hard for Brexton, Lennix, and Samantha, and the parents, everyone at RCR – and that’s where the hurt and anger comes from, right, wanting to win for those people.”
“Having said all of that, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”
Richard Childress Racing now turns its sights to Sunday, where it will race without Kyle Busch for the first time since hiring the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion in 2023. Austin Hill, who finished third on Saturday, will start 13th in the renumbered No. 33 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet.
Photo: David Jensen, Getty Images
