Jesse Love, one of Toyota’s young rising stars, will get a shot in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as he joins TRICON Garage for three races in 2023 beginning at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on 3 June. The other starts will come at Kansas Speedway on 8 September and Phoenix Raceway on 3 November. He will pilot the #1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.
“I’ve known David Gilliland for a long time and have such a tremendous amount of respect for him as both a driver and a team owner,” said Love. “To put it simply, I literally can’t wait to get behind the wheel for both David and this team. A lot of time, sweat, and tears have gone into this opportunity and I’m looking forward to capitalising on it. I think Gateway will be a great place to get started, so June 3 can’t come fast enough.”
Love won the 2020 and 2021 ARCA Menards Series West championships, with the former making him the youngest champion in a NASCAR-sanctioned series at just fifteen years of age. His successes elevated him to the main ARCA Menards Series in 2022 for Venturini Motorsports where he ran fourteen races and led every lap at the Illinois State Fairgrounds to win.
Now eighteen years old, he will compete for the ARCA championship in 2023.
He finished fifth in the 2020 ARCA race at Gateway, while he notched a pair of sixth-place runs in the 2021 and 2022 ARCA West events at Phoenix. Due to his youth, he has no prior experience at Kansas.
“We’ve had the pleasure of competing against Jesse in ARCA over the past few seasons and have always been impressed with his ability behind the wheel,” commented Gilliland. “We’re thrilled to play a role in his development and can’t wait to have him as part of our programme in 2023.”
TRICON is Toyota’s flagship team and fields four full-time trucks: the #5 for Dean Thompson, #11 for Corey Heim, #15 for Tanner Gray, and #17 for Taylor Gray with Sammy Smith among those filling in until he is old enough to run the entire slate. The #1 will also be piloted by Jason White at Daytona and fellow ARCA contender William Sawalich in six races.
