With Jesse Love moving to the Ford camp, he leaves a championship-sized hole in Richard Childress Racing. While Austin Hill runs Kyle Busch’s Cup seat, RCR needs a reliable prospect to support its O’Reilly program.
Here are some favorites to take over Love’s No.2 Chevy.
1. Carson Brown
RCR signed Carson Brown as part of its driver development program ahead of the 2026 season. The 17-year-old currently competes full-time across three championships: the ASA National Tour, where he’s in his sophomore season, the CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour, and the ARCA Menards Series East with Pinnacle Racing Group.
Brown recently finished third in last Friday’s ARCA race at Pocono. He began the year by winning an ASA Stars race at New Smyrna Speedway, in addition to an ARCA triumph at Phoenix.
Moreover, the young driver is a title favorite for the ASA championship this year, having finished second last season.
2. Sheldon Creed
Sheldon Creed is an RCR veteran who left the team back in 2023, before moving to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2024, and the Haas Factory team in 2025. Creed’s RCR tenure had a rather unfortunate end, as he wrecked his teammate, Austin Hill, and lost the final transfer spot into the Championship Four.
RCR Vice President of Competition Andy Petree didn’t approve of Creed’s driving style at the time. Consequently, Jesse Love came in to replace the Californian from 2023 onwards.
That said, Creed has found his winning groove this season. After 15 runner-up finishes, the 28-year-old finally ended his 137-race winless streak at EchoPark Speedway. He currently ranks among the top-5 standings, two spots ahead of Hill.
3. Josh Berry
Josh Berry may very well return to the O’Reilly Series if he fails to land a Cup seat. His predecessor, Harrison Burton, took the same path after departing from Wood Brothers Racing in 2024.
Berry has an extensive O’Reilly career with 91 starts, 5 wins, 32 top-5s, and a championship-four appearance in 2022. He’s also a 2020 NASCAR Weekly Series Champion, making him a deserving pick for RCR.
“Was a no-brainer”: Jesse Love speaks on Wood Brothers Racing driver
In a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR radio, Jesse Love shared his thoughts on landing a Cup seat with Wood Brothers Racing. He called it a ‘surreal’ experience that he’d been chasing for a long time.
“Being at a place I can be for a long time looking at Wood Brothers and Penske kind of as one, that makes sense for me,” Love said. “I think that, at the end of the day, trying to find a place where I can make a home and make a career out of and be with a top organization is really important to me. I feel like this opportunity was able to present that to me.”
“There’s a lot of layers to figuring out what the right opportunity is and where you want to go and where you don’t want to go. Throughout my conversations with the Wood Brothers, and Ford and Penske, it just seems like this was a no-brainer for me,” he added.
Jesse Love is currently running second to Justin Allgaier in the championship fight. He’s yet to win a race this season, but has finished among the top-10 in 16 of his 17 starts.
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