Jesse Love is a West Coast kid, and for the second season in a row, the Richard Childress Racing driver has picked up the win at the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway. Last year, the win secured him the series championship in the final season of NASCAR's Playoff format. This year, could the win mark the beginning of Love's march to a second straight title, this time in NASCAR's Chase?

That remains to be seen, but Love's win on Saturday night in the Timberland PRO 200 has flipped the script for Love's championship hopes, and his standing among NASCAR fans, apparently.

"I know last year, I got a lot of boos, but I appreciate the cheers this time," Love said in a post-race interview with The CW.

Paired with a rough outing for Sheldon Creed, the championship leader heading into the night, Love's win handed him a decisive lead in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series standings.

And following a dominant performance on Saturday night, where Love led a race-high 156 laps and swept the Stage wins, he has sent a big message.

With three races remaining in the championship fight, Love now leads Justin Allgaier by 36 points.

While it was a dominant win, Love did have to hold off a hard-charging Mayer, who came on strong in the final laps of the race.

"Yeah, a lot," Love said when asked what he had to do to hold off Mayer. "Hats off to them, man. The 41 team did a great job coming from the back, and making their car better. Honestly, it felt like they were a little bit better than we were at the end. I was having to just drive a lot over the tire to make any sort of lap time."

The win is the second of the season for Love, and it marks the fifth victory of his 95-race NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series career.

Mayer made an incredible rally on Saturday night, as he started at the rear of the field following a blown motor in practice earlier in the day.

Allgaier, the runner-up driver in the championship standings, would come home with a third-place finish.

Corey Day saw his two-race winning streak snapped as he crossed the finish line in fourth, and Sammy Smith rounded out the top-five finishers.

Sheldon Creed finished second to Love in Stage 1, and it appeared he would have a shot at keeping his two-point lead intact at the end of the evening. However, in the Stage break caution, Creed would shut his car off in an effort to save fuel, and the car would not refire.

"Just normal shutting the car off under caution, and it just didn't refire," Creed said after the race. "So, I cycled power; I went through a bunch of different things, but nothing got it to refire."

Creed would have to spend three laps on pit road getting mechanical repairs and would return to the race. However, Creed would finish 32nd, two laps off the pace.

As a result, Creed would drop from first in the championship standings to fourth, and he now sits 59 points behind Love, the winner of Saturday's race. Despite the disappointing evening, Creed isn't throwing in the towel on his championship hopes, yet.

"Anything can happen," Creed explained. "Obviously, with Talladega next week. So, yeah, I think the mindset changes a little bit. We can be more aggressive, try to go win Stages and win the race. And I know we'll be fast at Homestead. So, just need to get ourselves back to within 25 to 30 points before Homestead and try to go lead all the laps there."

Updated Chase Grid (Three Races Remaining)

1. Jesse Love, 2,367 points
2. Justin Allgaier, -36
3. Corey Day, -39
4. Sheldon Creed, -59
5. Carson Kvapil, -79
6. Sam Mayer, -86
7. Sammy Smith, -137
8. Taylor Gray, -141
9. Austin Hill, -143
10. Parker Retzlaff, -173
11. Brandon Jones, -183
12. Rajah Caruth, -213

Timberland PRO 200 Race Results

(C) indicates a Chase contender
# indicates a Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points