Jesse Love’s Approach To Championship Race At Phoenix All About Control

Twenty-seven cars are entered for Saturday’s Arizona Lottery 100 at Phoenix Raceway. Which means 26 drivers will look to keep Jesse Love from winning the last race of the 2020 ARCA Menards Series West season.

But the 15-year-old from Menlo Park, California, won’t be competing against 26 cars. He’ll be competing against one.

“You’re just racing the nine car,” said Love of his approach to the season finale.

PHOENIX: Preview | Entry list | Schedule

That No. 9  Sunrise Ford/Four Star Fruit/Lucas Oil/Reeves Ford is driven by Blaine Perkins, the only driver who will have a chance Saturday to steal what would be a West Series championship for Love in his rookie season driving the No. 19 NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing.

Love, who like Perkins has won three West races this season, has a 14-point edge over second place in the championship standings as the finale approaches. If Love finishes eighth or better, he will clinch the title regardless of what Perkins does.

Which is why Love insists he feels relaxed. He has finished fourth or worse just once in 10 West races this season, his eighth-place run at Kern County Raceway Park on Oct. 25.

Despite a large car count that favors Perkins, Love feels in control of his own standing.

“You can’t race everybody else around you,” said Love. “Just have to put your car in the best situation it can be. I can’t control what everybody else does, but I can put myself in a situation where even if they do do something that I don’t want to happen, you are as safe as you can be.

“And it’s just not stressing about it. The more you stress about it, the more you’re going to make mistakes on the track and do all that stuff. So you just gotta put your best foot forward and keep yourself as safe as possible and just be smart and trust yourself.”

The numbers suggest Love is wise to trust himself and his BMR team. They either lead the series or are tied with another team this season across the board — wins (three), top-five finishes (nine), top-10 finishes (10), poles (four) and laps led (369). Among West regulars in 2020, Love has by far the best average starting position (2.8) and the best average finish (2.9).

POINTS: Championship scenarios for Phoenix

So Love’s California cool attitude is warranted. Though he admits he wishes his points lead were a little larger entering Phoenix, he trusts the same factors — himself, his BMR team and “everybody at Toyota” — that put him on the brink of a championship in the first place.

“Nope,” said Love with a smile when asked whether he feels pressure. “I don’t feel pressure. Not for me.”

Love’s approach to Saturday’s West finale is unique for a driver in that he doesn’t care to win the race. He said his No. 1 goal is to win the championship, period.

“If the nine car goes out or something like that, then we can focus on winning the race,” said Love. “Because then no matter what happens, we’ll win the championship.”

He then reverted to his refrain for the week: “At the same time, you’ve got to control everything that you can control. You have to be aware of what you can control, make sure you put those things first. Put yourself in a situation where nothing crazy can happen.

“I feel like that’s the most important thing.”

RELATED: Jesse Love’s career stats

For that reason, Love will be keeping tabs on where Perkins is running Saturday in relation to himself. That’s how Love will know when to push his car and when to take it easy. He’ll react to something he can’t control with something he can control.

So while the 14-point gap in the standings is just small enough to give Perkins reason to believe he can steal the title, it’s just large enough for Love to be able to approach the Phoenix race with such a simple strategy.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m not worried,” said Love. “We just gotta race our race and do everything that we can to keep ourselves safe.”