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Jesse Love shoves Nick Sanchez after pit road confrontation at Las Vegas

JHby: Jonathan Howard10/12/25Jondean25
Jesse Love Nick Sanchez NASCAR
Left: Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images Right: Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

A little bit of a disagreement between Jesse Love and Nick Sanchez after tonight’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas. The two drivers had a post-race chat on pit road that resulted in Love giving a shove to Sanchez as the two parted ways.

Richard Childress Racing and Big Machine Racing are closely tied together. Big Machine has its shop on the Welcome, North Carolina, campus that RCR operates out of, along with Kaulig Racing. So, it’s a bit of an inside issue in that respect.

Love didn’t appreciate how Sanchez raced him late. The 48 car was moving up in the closing lap while Love found himself falling a few spots from where he was running earlier in the race, racing against Aric Almirola for the lead. Almirola went on to win the race.

So, the two went back and forth on pit road about the closing laps. Then, Jesse Love ended it with, “That’s why you crash half these f***ing races.” That’s when Sanchez put a hand on Love’s shoulder to say one more thing, and was met with a quick stiff arm by the RCR driver.

Check it out in this video captured by Bryan Nolen of Frontstretch. It will be interesting to see how this could affect Talladega next week.

This race got away from Jesse Love late. He started to lose spots on the track after battling with Aric Almirola and Connor Zilisch. Then, he got into it with Nick Sanchez. While there were no big wrecks tonight, Justin Allgaier noted post-race that a lot of rough racing was going on. Allgaier even commended Love for not wrecking while racing Sanchez.

So, it appears that Love has some vindication here. Then again, who is to say where the line is? If no one wrecked, was it over the line for Sanchez to be doing what he was doing?

Hard to say, sitting here, not at the track or in one of these two cars. Still, keep an eye on Jesse Love and Nick Sanchez next week. Maybe one decides not to push the other late or not line up behind the other guy on a restart. One week until we see that unfold.

NASCAR racing gets physical both on the track and off it. It is not surprising to see tempers flare this time of the year. Sanchez wants to win the race. Love wants to move on to the Championship 4 with a win or on points. Wrecking doesn’t get either of them what they want.