Jesse Love scored the ARCA Menards Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. Photo: ARCA Menards Series
After failing to win the last two superspeedway races on the ARCA Menards Series schedule, Venturini Motorsports is officially back on top.
At the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota, in just his second start on a superspeedway, 18-year-old Jesse Love powered past Andres Perez de Lara after a restart with seven laps to go in Saturday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway. He held off his Venturini teammate Gus Dean to earn his first victory of the season.
The driver from Menlo Park, California said he approached Saturday’s race differently than he did the opening race of the season at Daytona International Speedway in February, when he finished seventh.
“I got yelled at at Daytona by my spotter Tyler Monn,” Love said. “He told me to just stay level-headed. You don’t win races getting worked up. I couldn’t believe it was the white flag. I was still calm, and he was doing a great job making sure they couldn’t get a run.”
Love dominated the early part of the race after taking the lead at the start of the 76-lap event, but pit strategy near the halfway mark cycled him out of the lead.
He slowly worked his way back to the front and was running second behind Perez de Lara with 12 laps left when Caleb Costner crashed after the right-front tire on his car failed in turns 3-4.
The race resumed with seven laps remaining, and Perez de Lara and Love restarted on the front row. The pair raced side-by-side through turns 1-2, but Love got the edge going down the backstretch thanks to a push from his teammate Dean.
Love led the remainder of the race to earn his third career ARCA Menards Series victory as he chases his first series championship in 2023.
“I love Talladega. I was here last year on the spotter stand with watching Tyler win with Noah (Gragson),” Love said. “My mom doesn’t get to come to a lot of races. She’s always back home supporting our family. This was the one race she really wanted to come to. She was my biggest inspiration today to win.”
Dean, who scored his first ARCA Menards Series victory at Talladega in 2016, settled for second. He said he didn’t have enough help pushing Love to really get a run on his teammate on the final lap.
“These Venturini cars, in my opinion, are the four strongest cars in the field,” Dean said. “For 75 laps, the teammate situation is the greatest tool that we have. But that last lap is really hard to get done, especially when you have a driver like Jesse and equipment just as good as yours and not a ton of help from behind.”
Bret Holmes, the 2020 ARCA Menards Series champion from nearby Munford, Alabama, finished third at his home track in what is scheduled to be his only ARCA start of the season. Perez de Lara finished fourth for Rev Racing in his first superspeedway race, with Sean Corr finishing fifth.
Jack Wood, Taylor Gray, Scott Melton, Frankie Muniz and Jason White completed the top 10.
Greg Van Alst, who won the opening race of the season at Daytona and entered the General Tire 200 as the ARCA Menards Series championship leader, crashed on lap 16 and finished 32nd.
The ARCA Menards Series season resumes on May 6 when the series visits Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
ARCA Menards Series
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL
General Tire 200 – April 22, 2023
1. Jesse Love
2. Gus Dean
3. Bret Holmes
4. Andres Perez de Lara
5. Sean Corr
6. Jack Wood
7. Taylor Gray
8. Scott Melton
9. Frankie Muniz
10. Jason White
11. Tony Cosentino
12. Toni Breidinger
13. Ed Pompa
14. Bryan Dauzat
15. Bryce Haugeberg
16. Patrick Emerling
17. Christian Rose
18. Andy Jankowiak
19. Brad Smith
20. A.J. Moyer
21. Caleb Costner
22. Steve Lewis Jr.
23. Eric Caudell
24. Mandy Chick
25. Tim Richmond
26. Jason Kitzmiller
27. Jon Garrett
28. Logan Misuraca
29. Hunter Deshautelle
30. Kevin Hinkle
31. Amber Balcaen
32. Greg Van Alst
33. Alex Clubb
34. Tim Monroe
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