And just like that, the boiling over frustration of a season filled with missed opportunities faded away in an instant for Jesse Love. The defending NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion finally snagged his elusive first victory of the 2026 campaign, as he held off Sheldon Creed in the closing laps of Saturday night's Nu Way 225 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Love, who took the Stage 2 win, and had the fastest lap of the race, scored 72 points on the evening, which was good enough to move him up two spots in the championship standings to fourth. He now sits just 16 points behind the new leader in the standings, Creed.

"Guess we had to put them on the dash," Love said after climbing from his car. "Just proud of our crew, proud of my pit crew, proud of my whole Whelen Engineering team, Chevrolet, Wise Optimization, everybody who has been so involved in repeating a championship this year."

While it was a joyous night, Love was honest about how difficult it has been this season, mentally, knowing he had the speed to win several races this season only to come up empty so many times.

"It's been really hard, but I knew that if I just keep my grit, if I keep my tenacity, keep my work ethic -- not just keep it, but improve it -- then eventually, one of these opportunities is going to be there, and I'm going to freaking take it. Which we freaking did tonight," Love said.

In all, Love led 70 laps en route to the fourth win of his 92-race NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series career. Now, he'll set his sights on his second championship.

If Love wants to take that second championship, he'll likely have to go through Creed, the runner-up finisher on the night. Creed, who won last weekend at Darlington Raceway, has finished top-two in each of the two races of the Chase so far, which has allowed him to climb the standings.

Creed was pleased to finish second after struggling with the handling on his car early in the race.

"Overall, really proud of how our night went. Just fought hard, battled it out. Made adjustments on our race car all night and turned us into a top-three race car," Creed explained.

The mild-mannered Creed knows it's nice to hold the point lead after Gateway, but he is not crowning himself the champion just yet.

"Just, yeah, cool to be the point leader, but this thing is far from over," Creed said. "Just need to keep showing up and doing a good job."

Creed holds a three-point advantage over Justin Allgaier, who has held the point lead for the majority of the season. Allgaier, who was involved in a Lap 134 incident with William Sawalich and Corey Day, which ended Day's night, was able to salvage a 13th-place finish. But with the other contenders having such great nights, he was unable to maintain his point lead.

Sam Mayer, Creed's Haas Factory Team teammate and fellow Chase contender, finished third, while Taylor Gray, another Chase contender, rebounded from an early-race spin to finish fourth.

Carson Kvapil, who won Stage 1 and led a race-high 105 laps from the pole, faded down the stretch to a fifth-place finish, but he leaves Gateway just nine points back from Creed in the standings.

Parker Retzlaff, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith, Kyle Sieg, and Jeb Burton rounded out the top-10 finishers in Saturday night's Nu Way 225.

It was a rough night for a few Chase contenders including Austin Hill, who suffered from loose wheels in the race. Hill wound up with a 29th-place finish, one lap off the pace.

Corey Day's night came to an end after a hard crash following retaliation from William Sawalich on the backstretch on Lap 134. Day would be credited with a 33rd-place finish.

Rajah Caruth and Brandon Jones, who were both part of a scary 11-car melee on pit road on Lap 48, were able to rally back to finish 11th and 15th, respectively.

Nu Way 225 Race Results

1. 2 - Jesse Love (C)
2. 00 - Sheldon Creed (C)
3. 41 - Sam Mayer (C)
4. 54 - Taylor Gray (C)
5. 1 - Carson Kvapil (C)
6. 99 - Parker Retzlaff (C)
7. 19 - Brent Crews #
8. 8 - Sammy Smith (C)
9. 28 - Kyle Sieg
10. 27 - Jeb Burton
11. 88 - Rajah Caruth (C)
12. 26 - Dean Thompson
13. 7 - Justin Allgaier (C)
14. 39 - Ryan Sieg
15. 20 - Brandon Jones (C)
16. 18 - William Sawalich
17. 48 - Patrick Staropoli #
18. 92 - Josh Williams
19. 44 - Brennan Poole
20. 31 - Blaine Perkins
21. 91 - Mason Maggio
22. 96 - Anthony Alfredo
23. 32 - Jordan Anderson
24. 02 - Ryan Ellis
25. 0 - Myatt Snider
26. 07 - Josh Bilicki
27. 55 - Joey Gase
28. 42 - Brad Perez
29. 21 - Austin Hill (C)
30. 45 - Lavar Scott #
31. 51 - Jeremy Clements
32. 53 - Austin J. Hill
33. 17 - Corey Day (C)
34. 87 - Nick Sanchez
35. 24 - Harrison Burton
36. 47 - Dawson Cram

Updated Chase Grid (7 races remaining)

1. Sheldon Creed, 2,175 points
2. Justin Allgaier, - 3 points
3. Carson Kvapil, -9
4. Jesse Love, -16
5. Austin Hill, -61
6. Sam Mayer, -61
7. Sammy Smith, -64
8. Corey Day, -69
9. Brandon Jones, -76
10. Parker Retzlaff, -83
11. Taylor Gray, -86
12. Rajah Caruth, -118