Jesse Love Gives Emotional Interview After Heartbreaking Loss at Watkins Glen

For Jesse Love, the end of the Watkins Glen NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race will replay in his mind over and over. He had saved enough fuel, caught a break when Connor Zilisch tore up his front splitter with a handful of laps to go. Yet, Love still didn't win.

In the last corner, Jesse Love overdrove it and Connor Zilisch took advantage. He passed the 2 car and didn't look back until he had taken the checkered flag. It was another shocking result between the two drivers and best friends off the track.

This was really the first big moment between the two since last year's series championship race in Phoenix. It was Love who celebrated then and Zilisch who found himself shellshocked in the aftermath. This time, the roles were reversed.

"You know, when you really nickel and dime it, right, there's a hundred little small mistakes that let him get close and at the end of the day the glaring piece of it is I had a bad corner," Love said on The CW after the race. "I had a bad corner."

The interview wasn't over there. Love was asked to go through the end of that race, but the driver couldn't help but feel one thing - embarrassment.

"Yeah it was definitely a challenging but good experience for me. I've never saved fuel before on a road course," Love said about the fuel saving. "You know, what a good mental challenge for me? You know, all I want to do is beat Connor here, right? And we're best friends and we've caused each other a lot of pain. And yeah, I didn't execute when I needed to and I think the reason I'm so quiet is I'm just embarrassed.

"As a driver you can't make those mistakes and it was such a bad mistake it's just embarrassing. I know that I'll learn from this and be better because of it, but I let down a lot of people, including myself, most importantly, and you know, maybe it's a good idea for me to feel this pain right now."

Jesse Love fought back tears and emotion during his interview. It is obvious, when he wins and when he loses, that Love lives and breathes racing. This is all he wants to do, and he wants to be the best at it.

There is definitely a conversation in NASCAR about Love's championship. The playoff era went out on a nasty note. Perhaps Love still has a chip on his shoulder and wants to prove that his championship is valid, and that the gap between himself and Zilisch isn't as great as it can appear at times.

Today, Love will have to try to move on as quickly as he can. Zilisch proved to once again be too much for anyone in the field to handle. And there's no shame or anything to be embarrassed about in that sense.

Had Zilisch not gone through the grass and beat his car up, the pass wouldn't have been so dramatic and so gut wrenching. It would have happened with a few laps to go, and that would have been that. But the opportunity was there, and Love let it slip through his fingers.

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This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 4:04 PM.