Is Jesse Love Headed to Legacy Motor Club in 2026?
What’s Happening? A recent report names Jesse Love as a NASCAR driver currently looking at a promotion to the Cup Series….
A quick note from a NASCAR insider on a recent podcast episode has fans online talking about whether or not Jesse Love’s future lies with RCR.
While he may not have the dominant stretches that past developmental drivers in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series have had, if you were to ask a fan who they thought was the next OAP Series driver to get the call to the Cup Series, Jesse Love would likely be a consistent answer.
In the past three seasons racing for Richard Childress Racing, Love has slowly improved year to year, ultimately winning the Series championship last season.
So far this season, the 21-year-old has again improved, with a career-best average start and finish, but has yet to win.
In fact, Love came pain-stakingly close to winning this past weekend at Watkins Glen International, just to be passed by his friend Connor Zilisch in the final turn of the race.
Still, this heartbreaker wasn’t the only topic of discussion about Love after this off-season, as fans have taken notice of comments from NASCAR Insider Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic during the latest episode of his and Jeff Gluck’s weekly post-race podcast, The Teardown.
During a conversation about Love’s close loss to Zilisch, Bianchi mentioned that there are Cup Series teams interested in Love:
“You talk to people in the garage, they think he’s [Love] really talented. There’s Cup teams that are interested in him.” — Jordan Bianchi
While interest from the next level is no surprise, it’s clear from the reaction to Bianchi that fans were a little surprised that Love’s step to the next level might not be with RCR.
Of RCR’s four full-time NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers since the year 2020, none have made it to the Cup Series full-time, with most suspecting that Love would be the first.
Even then, that future hinges on what happens at RCR this Silly Season, as they may have only one spot open next year, since Kyle Busch is currently in another contract year.
Most fans theorize that if Busch were to leave, or RCR were to move on from the two-time champion, Love would be the future driver of that car.
Still, rumors of other teams making a run at the young driver date back to last summer, with rumors that Legacy Motor Club, then hoping to expand to three full-time cars for this season, had interest in making Love their third driver.
What’s Happening? A recent report names Jesse Love as a NASCAR driver currently looking at a promotion to the Cup Series….
Surprisingly, when plans for this third team racing in 2026 fell through for LMC, with them pushed to 2027, rumors of LMC’s interest have persisted into this year.
What’s Happening? The NASCAR rumor mill is heating up as a new rumor suggests that a former series champion and an…
Even then, where Love could land if he were to leave RCR is a guessing game, with rumors that the 2027 Silly Season could be as chaotic (if not even more chaotic) than 2021 or 2023.
For now, it seems that Love is set at RCR, but, at some point, the team has to decide what the future holds for Love and their Cup Series team, and, per Bianchi, if there isn’t a spot in-house for the future Rookie, there very likely could be a home for him elsewhere.
What’s Happening? NASCAR Silly Season is in full swing, with drivers on contract seasons already signing and re-signing with teams for…
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