XFINITY: Love, Bonsignore DQ'ed at Rockingham; Sammy Smith Named Winner

Jesse Love has been disqualified from Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Rockingham Speedway. | Photo Credit: James Gilbert, Getty Images

It appears that the result of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Rockingham Speedway was too good to be true for Jesse Love, who was disqualified by NASCAR following post-race technical inspection.

The Richard Childress Racing (RCR) driver will be demoted to a 37th-place finish in Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway, while also having his seventh-place finish in Stage 2 revoked.

According to NASCAR, Love and RCR violated Sections 14.14.2.I-5.H of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Rule Book, which says that all mating surfaces between the truck trailing arm and the U-bolt saddle must be in complete contact with each other

Sammy Smith, driver of the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, has been named the official winner of Saturday’s event. It’s the Johnston, Iowa-native’s third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, and his first of the season.

“It’s cool. It’s tough to win them like that, it’s unfortunate, I’ve been on the other side of the stick of where Jesse [Love] is at, but take them how you can get them, I guess,” said Smith.

“There’s obviously been some issues for about two hours now, so me and my crew chief [Phillip Bell] stayed around, I got nowhere else to be except for church tomorrow for Easter, so decided to just hang around for a little bit. Glad I stayed.”

With his inherited victory on Saturday, Smith is now locked into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs – the third driver from JR Motorsports to do so in 2025.

Parker Retzlaff has been promoted to second-place, a career-best, and further bettering the best-ever finish for Alpha Prime Racing. Harrison Burton is promoted to third-place, while Brennan Poole and Taylor Gray rounded out the top-five.

Austin Hill, Josh Williams, Jeb Burton, Daniel Dye, and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top-10.

Additionally, Justin Bonsignore, who finished 36th in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Rockingham, has been disqualified for violating Sections 10.5.2.5.D of the Rule Book, which pertains to lug nuts not being properly secured.

Bonsignore will finish 38th in the North Carolina Education Lottery 250.