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Dale Earnhardt Jr suffers NASCAR Xfinity heartbreak – Motorsport – Sports
Dale Earnhardt Jr was left gutted at Phoenix Raceway as his JR Motorsports team, despite holding 75 percent of the cars eligible to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, still came up empty-handed on the night of the final Round of 4 when it all mattered.
20-year-old Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing drove his No. 2 Chevrolet to near perfection to pull off a jaw-dropping neck-and-neck battle to capture the 2025 Xfinity Series title. He outlasted JR Motorsports’ trio of Connor Zilisch, Carson Kvapil, and 2024 champion Justin Allgaier to win.
Love’s championship-clinching victory came despite having won just one race all season, which was the Daytona opener back in February. He had 22 top 10 finishes in 32 starts this season and nearly doubled his points total from his rookie season in 2024, where he finished in eighth place.
The young JR driver led the series with 10 wins in his rookie year and later earned Rookie of the Year honors, but was emotional after the race. He was visibly shaken as he climbed out of his car and was shown with tears in his eyes following defeat.
Zilisch led five times for 27 laps but was overtaken by Love with 24 laps to go and slipped to third after Aric Almirola snatched the runner-up spot late. Allgaier, who led a race-high 83 laps, lost control of the race after a costly pit stop under the final caution.
Earnhardt admitted the result was “tough to watch” but praised his team’s consistency throughout the season.”I’ve been in this a long, long time and I know you’re going to be disappointed more often than you’ll be happy,” he said.
“So, you kind of know what you’re signing up for. This was always a possibility coming in here. We just have to work harder and try to be in a better position next year.”
Love’s underdog title was the latest heartbreak for JR Motorsports, marking the second time in four years the organization sent three drivers to the Championship 4 and came away empty. Ty Gibbs spoiled their sweep attempt in 2022.