Jesse Love disqualified, Sammy Smith wins Rockingham in shocking twist

A chaotic NASCAR Xfinity race isn’t done delivering unexpected moments, even several hours after the event ended. Jesse Love captured the checkered flag in his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, but he’ll have to give both that flag and the winner’s trophy back.

The RCR driver’s car failed post-race inspection after an issue was found involving the rear suspension. As a result, Love has been stripped of the race win and disqualified. He will be credited with a 37th place finish. NASCAR offered the following explanation for the disqualification: “All mating surfaces between the truck trailing arm and the U-bolt saddle must be in complete contact with each other.”

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith, who was passed by Love for the lead on the final overtime restart, will inherit the race win. This is now the third win of Smith’s young career and his first of the 2025 season. Parker Retzlaff has been promoted to a career-best finish of second, Harrison Burton third, Brennan Poole fourth, and Taylor Gray fifth.

This is also the second time this year a race winner at the national level has been disqualified following inspection issues. Parker Kligerman originally won the NASCAR Truck Series season-opener at Daytona, but was later stripped of the victory after failing post-race tech. Corey Heim inherited the win in that situation.

Justin Bonsignore, who fell out of Saturday’s Xfinity race in an accident on Lap 157, was also disqualified after NASCAR found multiple loose lug nuts on the car in what is considered a safety issue. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver originally finished 36th, but will now be scored in 38th (last).

Photos from Rockingham – Race