Jesse Love loses not one but two milestones after Rockingham blunder
Jesse Love lost two accomplishments after his #2 Chevy failed the post-race inspection. The Richard Childress Racing driver posted his career-third win at the Rockingham Speedway, but his car violated Rule 14.14.2.I-5.h, which comprises 'trailing arm spacers and pinion angle shims.'
Love led 53 laps at the 1.017-mile facility that returned to NASCAR after over a decade, and braved 14 cautions, restarting the final overtime from third place. But as the race went green for the last time, he aggressively approached Sammy Smith, forcing him to slide high, and took the lead to ace the race by a 0.691-second margin.
However, the rear suspension infraction forced NASCAR to strip Love of the victory and declare runner-up Smith the winner. The officials also deemed the RCR's driver's fastest lap of 23.27 seconds ineligible. With that, the JR Motorsports driver won his first race this season and collected a $100,000 bonus as the winner of the final Dash 4 Cash battle.
“All mating surfaces of those parts need to be in complete contact with each other, and unfortunately they violated that rule and were disqualified,” said series director Eric Peterson via NASCAR.
The #39 Ford driver, Ryan Sieg, benefited from Love's penalty and inherited the fastest lap, at 23.39 seconds.
Sammy Smith makes his feelings known after Jesse Love's disqualification made him Rockingham's winner
The JR Motorsports driver started 13th in the 256-lap race but wheeled his #8 Chevy to the front and led 9 laps. Even though Smith failed to post Stage points, he capitalized on the final stage cautions to battle with the frontrunners.
Smith masterfully fended off a hard challenge from Jesse Love on Lap 247 restart, and cleared the RCR driver for the lead again on Lap 255 restart. However, Jesse Love's delicate move denied the JRM driver the win.
Nonetheless, after failing the post-race inspection, Sammy Smith won the race and has safeguarded his place in the playoffs. Following the DQ, the official race winner revealed he "waited to see what happens" and was left "speechless" upon learning about the infraction
"It’s a tough way to win that, but I feel like we’ll take ’em any way we can get ’em," Smith said after learning of Jesse Love’s disqualification via NASCAR. "We waited here to see what happens, but overall, it was a good day, and I’m very happy with the progress we’ve made recently. I’m kind of speechless, to be honest with you."
The final stage witnessed nine cautions that shook the field and generated noteworthy accomplishments. This includes AM Racing earning its career-best Xfinity Series finish after Harrison Burton was moved to third, and Alpha Prime Racing driver Parker Retzlaff coming home with a career-best finish in second.