NASCAR O'Reilly champ Jesse Love set to make team debut this weekend at Nashville

Jesse Love

Jesse Love set to make NASCAR team debut this weekend at Nashville

NASCAR O'Reilly Series champion Jesse Love will return to the Truck Series this weekend with Spire Motorsports

Chris Deeley

Tuesday 26 May 2026 18:09

Jesse Love will make his first NASCAR Truck Series since 2023 this weekend at Nashville.

The reigning O'Reilly Series champion has never run a full series in the Truck Series – just three races with Tricon in 2023, before his O'Reilly Series debut – but will step back in at Nashville this weekend.

Love will link up with Spire Motorsports to run their No. 77 truck this weekend, becoming the fourth driver this year to get behind the wheel of that entry. However, that seat has been dominated by one of those four.

Carson Hocevar has run eight of the first ten Truck races of the year in the No. 77 (with James Hinchcliffe taking over at St Pete when the Truck race was split from the Cup Series race at COTA, and Connor Zilisch stepping in at Charlotte when the team wanted Hocevar concentrating on the Coke 600), but will step aside for the second weekend in a row at Nashville.

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Love maturing in third NASCAR season

Posting on social media after the announcement, Love wrote: "Grateful for everyone involved at Spire Motorsports for the ride this weekend at Nashville! Haven’t been in a truck since '23 so hopefully it’s like riding a bike. Thank you RCR as well for allowing me to race every chance I get."

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Love's impressive consistency has him sitting second in the O'Reilly Series standings this season despite not winning a race, picking up his third second-place finish of the year this weekend at Charlotte in a rain-shortened race.

The 21-year-old was frustrated by NASCAR's decision-making after that finish, in which the race was put under caution for long enough to make the result official before red flagging proceedings for good.

"I'm mad," he admitted after the race was called. "So I think it's a complete joke, handling it how they handled it. I was really mad when they got out of the car for obvious reasons ... Then I kind of realized, if this week has taught us anything, it's that all this doesn't matter as much as we think it does.

"There's things way more important than a trophy. So, as much as I am angry and confused and upset, I also, again realize there's a lot of hurt people right now. This week has taught us that there's so many things so much bigger than racing. I think, as much as it hurts, we can find some okay-ness in knowing that.

"I'm just feeling so hard for Brexton, and Lennix, and Samantha – the parents, and everybody at RCR. That's where the hurt and the anger comes from, right? Wanting to win for those people. Having said all that, it doesn't really matter, does it."

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NASCAR NASCAR Xfinity Series NASCAR Truck Series Spire Motorsports Jesse Love