Toledo Speedway

Jesse Love earns huge superspeedway win; Venturini Motorsports reigns supreme once again at Talladega

ARCA Menards Series action took over on Saturday afternoon, with a huge superspeedway race at the Talladega Superspeedway for the General Tire 200. The race featured great racing, points implications, and a convincing win by a driver in just his second start on a superspeedway.

While Frankie Muniz took the ARCA Menards Series points lead, Jesse Love would take the checkered flag in a thrilling race. The ARCA Menards Series will finish its 2023 season with its Championship race - the Shore Lunch 200 at Toledo Speedway. Tickets are available now! Click here, or check out the link below.

Shore Lunch 200 ARCA Menards Series National Championship Race, and Valley Truck Centers Outlaw Super Late Model Feature Sponsored by Churchill Transport, Tom's Collision, Innovative Fluids, VanDoorn Racing Development - 1:30 PM

October 07, 2023 - 04:30 PM EDT

Toledo Speedway

Toledo, OH

TALLADEGA, Ala. — After failing to win the last two superspeedway races on the ARCA Menards Series schedule, Venturini Motorsports is officially back on top.

At the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota, in just his second start on a superspeedway, 18-year-old Jesse Love powered past Andres Perez de Lara after a restart with seven laps to go in Saturday’s General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway. He held off his Venturini teammate Gus Dean to earn his first victory of the season.

The driver from Menlo Park, California said he approached Saturday’s race differently than he did the opening race of the season at Daytona International Speedway in February, when he finished seventh.

“I got yelled at at Daytona by my spotter Tyler Monn,” Love said. “He told me to just stay level-headed. You don’t win races getting worked up. I couldn’t believe it was the white flag. I was still calm, and he was doing a great job making sure they couldn’t get a run.”

Photo Credit: Dustin Chambers/ARCA Racing

Race Recap

Love dominated the early part of the race after taking the lead at the start of the 76-lap event, but pit strategy near the halfway mark cycled him out of the lead.

He slowly worked his way back to the front and was running second behind Perez de Lara with 12 laps left when Caleb Costner crashed after the right-front tire on his No. 93 failed in Turns 3-4.

The race resumed with seven laps remaining, and Perez de Lara and Love restarted on the front row. The pair raced side-by-side through Turns 1-2, but Love got the edge going down the backstretch thanks to a push from his teammate Dean.

Love led the remainder of the race to earn his third career ARCA Menards Series victory as he chases his first series championship in 2023 at Toledo Speedway with the Shore Lunch 200.

“I love Talladega. I was here last year on the spotter stand with watching Tyler win with Noah ,” Love said. “My mom doesn’t get to come to a lot of races. She’s always back home supporting our family. This was the one race she really wanted to come to. She was my biggest inspiration today to win.”

Dean, who scored his first ARCA Menards Series victory at Talladega in 2016, settled for second. He said he didn’t have enough help pushing Love to really get a run on his teammate on the final lap.

“These Venturini cars, in my opinion, are the four strongest cars in the field,” Dean said. “For 75 laps, the teammate situation is the greatest tool that we have. But that last lap is really hard to get done, especially when you have a driver like Jesse and equipment just as good as yours and not a ton of help from behind.”

Bret Holmes, the 2020 ARCA Menards Series champion from nearby Munford, Alabama, finished third at his home track in what is scheduled to be his only ARCA start of the season. Perez de Lara finished fourth for Rev Racing in his first superspeedway race, with Sean Corr finishing fifth.
Jack Wood, Taylor Gray, Scott Melton, Frankie Muniz and Jason White completed the top 10.

Photo Credit: Dustin Chambers/ARCA Racing

A New Championship Leader

Greg Van Alst, who won the opening race of the season at Daytona and entered the General Tire 200 as the ARCA Menards Series championship leader, crashed on Lap 16 and finished 32nd.

Frankie Muniz finished a respectable 9th in the third race of the season, good enough for him to pass Greg Van Alst for first place in the ARCA Menards Series points standings. Muniz has not missed a lap yet this season. The actor-turned-racecar driver is the only driver in the ARCA Menards Series this year to complete every lap in the first three races of the year - Daytona, Phoenix, and Talladega.

Muniz leaves Talladega with a small points lead over a pair of Glass City 200 alumni. Just eleven points separate Muniz the runner-up of the 2022 Toledo Speedway Glass City 200 and Shore Lunch 200, Jesse Love, and a thirteen point lead over third place Greg Van Alst.

The 2023 ARCA Menards Series season resumes at 2 p.m. ET on May 6 when the series visits Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, for the running of the Dawn 150. Fans unable to attend in person will be able to watch live on FS1 or the Fox Sports App.

About the Shore Lunch 200

The ARCA Menards Series crowns a champion on Saturday, October 7th with the Shore Lunch 200 at Toledo Speedway. This historic race has created many memorable moments over the years as a season finale, with big finishes and a high amount of action. Ticket information for the 2023 Shore Lunch 200 will be come soon, so keep updated with ToledoSpeedway.com for more information! You can also follow along with Toledo Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Shore Lunch 200 ARCA Menards Series National Championship Race, and Valley Truck Centers Outlaw Super Late Model Feature Sponsored by Churchill Transport, Tom's Collision, Innovative Fluids, VanDoorn Racing Development - 1:30 PM

October 07, 2023 - 04:30 PM EDT

Toledo Speedway

Toledo, OH