NASCAR star has 'no intention' of staying in O'Reilly Series, targets 2027 Cup ride

Reigning NASCAR O'Reilly Series champion Jesse Love has revealed that this will be his last full-time season in the series.

Love shocked the NASCAR world by snatching the title from Connor Zilisch's grasp in the championship race at Phoenix in November, having entered the weekend without a win in 31 races.

The 21-year-old returned to defend his title in 2026 with Richard Childress Racing, but has now admitted to The Athletic's Jeff Gluck that he has 'no intention' of running the series full-time next year.

Claiming that he now feels on a 'different level' to his week-to-week competition, Love said he 'pretty much has to' move up to the Cup Series in 2027 to continue his career, citing continued funding.

A number of Cup drivers are in contract years, which could well provide Love a route to promotion. One of those is Kyle Busch, who seems open to the idea of leaving RCR if they continue to fail to provide him a winning car – with his departure potentially providing a smooth upward pathway for the young star.

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Love: I'm the best in the O'Reilly field

He also hinted that he thinks he got more out of his Xfinity/O'Reilly Series experience than his good friend Zilisch, warning that immediately dominating early in your career makes it more difficult to build the calluses necessary to deal with struggles when they arise.

He told Gluck: "Probably midway through last year, I felt like, 'I could go into a Cup car, but I don’t necessarily need to right now'. I want to get in the Cup Series and be able to perform right away on a fast timeline instead of having to wait three years like a lot of people.

"I could have gone out and dominated for a year, like Connor did, and move up. But Connor, not in a negative way, it’s hard to build grit and tenacity if you just show up and bust ass right away. When you have to really work at it and get better at something and struggle as well, you start to get that most important piece of your life, which is grit.

"I had to work really hard at it last year to get to the state I’m in now. I feel like every (O’Reilly) race I show up to, I’m the best in the field and I feel like at least now, I’m on a different level than the people I’m racing against. Obviously, some weekends (Kyle) Larson is in the field or Connor is in the field, and those guys really test you.

"Now I feel really confident in myself that I can go to the Cup level, and whether I have success right away or struggle right away, I can work myself out of any hole because I’ve built that grit.

"But yeah, I have no intentions of running another year in O’Reilly. I pretty much have to go to the Cup Series next year because there’s no situation that I can find, at least, that I would be full-time. You can only stay at this level for so long until funding and things like that don’t work. …

"I’ve never said in an interview before that I feel 100 percent ready to go Cup racing. But this year, how it started and how the offseason went, I’ve proven to myself I’m ready to make that step. So there’s different options and things available for next year, and I have to figure out what’s best for me and my future."