UPDATE: Jesse Love disqualified after failing post-race inspection. Sammy Smith has been declared the race winner.
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NASCAR XFINITYJesse Love disqualified, Sammy Smith wins Rockingham in shocking twist
After an action-packed race, slowed by 14 cautions, two red flags, and an overtime — Jesse Love became the lucky driver to take the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Rockingham.
For Love, Saturday’s Xfinity win makes his third career win and his second of the 2025 season. It’s also the 20-year-old’s first series win at a non-drafting track. He excitedly climbed out the roof hatch of his car, sliding down the windshield/hood as he was presented with the checkered flag. While he did all that, his driverless No. 2 car proceeded to roll down the banking and into the infield grass.
“Oh my gosh,” said Love. “These fans are amazing. What an incredible race track. You probably can’t even hear me right now (over the fans) but this race track is right up my alley. It’s hammer down.”
Regarding the final restart, he added: “I don’t know if I hit him [Sammy Smith] or if he stumbled, but I just had to get it done. I couldn’t lose that one. We just had too good of piece.”
Love also took advantage of his winning moment to urge fans to get themselves checked for skin cancer — dedicating the victory to his girlfriend’s sister, Jessica, who passed away almost exactly one year ago from the disease.
Chaos and calamity
The race featured extremely high attrition as most of the drivers in the field had never raced here before, considering the NASCAR Xfinity Series hasn’t raced Rockingham in 21 years. One of the only drivers with experience was Kasey Kahne, who was making his first appearance in any NASCAR race in nearly seven years. Unfortunately, he was collected in an early wreck involving Katherine Legge that left him with significant damage. He soldiered on and still finished 15th, but he no longer had a winning car under him.
Kahne and Legge were the first of what would become many drivers to tear up their equipment at Rockingham. 82 laps were completed behind the pace car and a dozen cars failed to reach the checkered flag. The race for the win somewhat resembled Friday’s Truck race with several drivers grabbing track position on a fuel-mileage gamble, hoping for enough caution laps to make it without pitting. And like the Truck race, most of them did not make it.
Leading that group was veteran Xfinity driver Ryan Sieg, still searching for his first win after 377 races and 12 years in the series. He was looking strong out front, fending off multiple attempts by Love to overtake him.
But Sieg’s dream of finally winning a national-level NASCAR race ended with less than 15 laps to go.
While cruising under caution, Sieg’s car — running on fumes — slowed abruptly, losing the lead as he was unable to keep pace. On the restart that followed, Christian Eckes ran out and triggered a multi-car wreck that collected Sieg as well. NASCAR was forced to red flag the race while they dealt with the carnage.
The race resumed with just four laps to go with Smith muscling by Love for the race lead. Another driver [Sam Mayer] ran out of fuel as well, triggering yet another wreck in the midfield. Again, the race was briefly stopped for cleanup.
After 14 cautions, the event was pushed into overtime with the sun beginning to set behind the track (which does not have lights). Love restarted third, but quickly moved Smith out of the way, reclaiming the race lead and never looking back.
Smith finished second, Parker Retzlaff third, Harrison Burton fourth, and Brennan Poole fifth. Taylor Gray, Austin Hill, Josh Williams, Jeb Burton, and Daniel Dye filled out the remainder of the top ten.
Photos from Rockingham – Race
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NASCAR XFINITYKasey Kahne’s return hindered by early wreck with Katherine Legge
Cla
Driver
#
Manufacturer
Laps
Time
Interval
Pits
Points
1
J. LoveRichard Childress Racing
2
Chevrolet
256
2:59’38.173
5
45
2
S. SmithJR Motorsports
8
Chevrolet
256
+0.691
2:59’38.864
0.691
6
35
3
P. RetzlaffAlpha Prime Racing
4
Chevrolet
256
+0.826
2:59’38.999
0.135
7
43
4
H. BurtonAM Racing
25
Ford
256
+1.001
2:59’39.174
0.175
7
33
5
B. PooleAlpha Prime Racing
44
Chevrolet
256
+1.434
2:59’39.607
0.433
7
32
6
T. GrayJoe Gibbs Racing
54
Toyota
256
+1.714
2:59’39.887
0.280
6
32
7
A. HillRichard Childress Racing
21
Chevrolet
256
+1.732
2:59’39.905
0.018
6
30
8
J. WilliamsKaulig Racing
11
Chevrolet
256
+2.031
2:59’40.204
0.299
9
29
9
J. BurtonJordan Anderson Racing
27
Chevrolet
256
+2.179
2:59’40.352
0.148
7
43
10
D. DyeKaulig Racing
10
Chevrolet
256
+2.232
2:59’40.405
0.053
11
27
11
J. ClementsJeremy Clements Racing
51
Chevrolet
256
+2.347
2:59’40.520
0.115
8
36
12
D. ThompsonSam Hunt Racing
26
Toyota
256
+2.371
2:59’40.544
0.024
8
35
13
B. JonesJoe Gibbs Racing
20
Toyota
256
+2.414
2:59’40.587
0.043
9
30
14
C. ZilischJR Motorsports
88
Chevrolet
256
+2.467
2:59’40.640
0.053
12
23
15
K. KahneRichard Childress Racing
33
Chevrolet
256
+2.925
2:59’41.098
0.458
14
22
16
A. AlfredoYoung’s Motorsports
42
Chevrolet
256
+2.956
2:59’41.129
0.031
8
34
17
C. KvapilJR Motorsports
1
Chevrolet
256
+3.159
2:59’41.332
0.203
7
27
18
J. BilickiDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports
91
Chevrolet
256
+3.272
2:59’41.445
0.113
11
19
19
R. SiegRSS Racing
39
Ford
256
+4.891
2:59’43.064
1.619
11
26
20
E. PatrickSS-Green Light Racing
07
Chevrolet
256
+5.517
2:59’43.690
0.626
10
17
21
K. SiegRSS Racing
28
Ford
256
+9.010
2:59’47.183
3.493
8
23
22
J. AllgaierJR Motorsports
7
Chevrolet
254
+2 Laps
2:59’48.760
2 Laps
9
15
23
G. SmithleySS-Green Light Racing
14
Chevrolet
253
+3 Laps
2:59’48.105
1 Lap
14
14
24
C. EckesKaulig Racing
16
Chevrolet
252
+4 Laps
2:59’55.596
1 Lap
8
13
25
V. SalasAlpha Prime Racing
45
Chevrolet
251
+5 Laps
2:59’52.047
1 Lap
20
12
26
W. SawalichJoe Gibbs Racing
18
Toyota
248
+8 Laps
2:59’45.108
3 Laps
13
11
27
S. MayerHaas Factory Team
41
Ford
247
+9 Laps
2:49’10.469
1 Lap
5
10
28
M. DiBenedettoViking Motorsports
99
Chevrolet
247
+9 Laps
2:49’10.842
0.373
7
19
29
K. WrightOur Motorsports
5
Chevrolet
247
+9 Laps
2:49’10.959
0.117
10
8
30
T. AnnunziataCope Family Racing
70
Chevrolet
246
+10 Laps
2:48’47.444
1 Lap
8
7
31
A. GreenJordan Anderson Racing
87
Chevrolet
241
+15 Laps
2:41’19.549
5 Laps
7
6
32
N. SanchezBig Machine Racing Team
48
Chevrolet
240
+16 Laps
2:40’22.833
1 Lap
7
15
33
B. PerkinsJordan Anderson Racing
31
Chevrolet
226
+30 Laps
2:27’50.601
14 Laps
6
4
34
R. EllisDGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports
71
Chevrolet
180
+76 Laps
2:02’16.612
46 Laps
5
3
35
G. Van AlstJoey Gase Motorsports
35
Chevrolet
171
+85 Laps
2:14’01.877
9 Laps
9
2
36
J. BonsignoreJoe Gibbs Racing
19
Toyota
157
+99 Laps
1:47’50.539
14 Laps
5
1
37
S. CreedHaas Factory Team
00
Ford
109
+147 Laps
1:02’50.459
48 Laps
4
1
38
K. LeggeJoey Gase Motorsports
53
Chevrolet
50
+206 Laps
24’11.570
59 Laps
2
In this article
Nick DeGroot
NASCAR XFINITY
Jesse Love
Richard Childress Racing
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