TULSA, Okla. – He may not be driving this week during the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, but Toyota Racing Development driver Jesse Love is still putting in plenty of hours at the Tulsa Expo Center.

Love, who announced a deal to drive part-time with KKM in December, is attending this year’s Chili Bowl with the team to begin interacting with his crew and new teammates before he actually jumps behind the wheel for the first time during the spring.

He arrived in Tulsa from California on Wednesday and has spent the last two days “being a sponge,” trying to absorb as much knowledge and as many notes as he can from outside the cockpit.

It’s a bit of a new world for the teenager, who admitted he’s never driven for a team the size of Kunz’s operation. KKM is fielding 11 drivers during this week’s Chili Bowl Nationals and has swept the preliminary night feature wins so far.

“It’s crazy to look at the differences between what most people would consider a ‘normal team’ and what we have here at Keith Kunz Motorsports,” said Love. “There’s so many guys here that do this on a regular basis. Some of the teams I’ve raced for in the past, their second job was racing, and they had another job at home and all of that. To see a team that does this for a living, especially at the biggest race of the year for what they do, is really, really cool.

“You walk by and see guys like Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, (POWRi champion) Tucker Klaasmeyer … Logan Seavey, last year’s USAC national champion … and think, ‘Wow, I’m going to be teammates with these guys’ … and that’s a surreal feeling for me. I’m just super excited to be part of such an amazing team and grateful that they’ve given me that opportunity. Hopefully, we can make something of it.”

Love was quick to point out that he was eager for the chance to get an understanding of his new situation, leading him to make a four-day pilgrimage to Oklahoma and get down to business.

“Getting some knowledge and understanding how they operate now was a big deciding factor for me in coming out here,” noted Love. “I want to understand the cars I’m going to race, I want to meet everyone on the team and I want to understand how everyone works and what I’m going to be a part of before we actually start doing this for real. That’s important to me and it’s definitely worth the time spent to come out here.”

Every first-time visitor to the Tulsa Expo Center has a unique impression of the venue and the event, and Love was no different when he first walked in Wednesday afternoon.

“My first reaction was honestly that I was surprised it wasn’t smokier. From what everyone was telling me, the fumes get built up in here sometimes … but I haven’t really seen that to the extent that I’ve heard yet.

“It’s just a super-cool place, though. I think what stuck out the most was just the smell of methanol, the family atmosphere and it being indoors … which is something I haven’t seen since I was at Red Bluff for the outlaw karts. It’s definitely a cool place and a special experience for me already.”

As he walked down the front aisle of the KKM pit, counting cars and reading off names along the way, Love admitted he was already envisioning his own midget sitting in the line.

“I’ve been trying to picture one of these cars with my name on it ever since I got the call that I was going to be a part of KKM,” Love grinned. “I’m just counting down the days until then, biding my time and trying to learn as much as I can.”

The good news is that he won’t have to wait too much longer, as Love will make his driving debut with KKM on April 19 at Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway.

“I was hoping I’d get to drive quicker than that and run the Turnpike Challenge, but we have to wait three more months still,” Love said. “I think I have a super late model commitment that prevents that one, but until we debut our new piece I’ll just keep making laps on the sim, keeping time with the team and making sure that we’re prepared for when we come out here.”

Love is trying to keep the bar realistic for the early portion of his season, but while he doesn’t have any firm expectations, he knows that the team he’s with is capable of great things.

“We’re going to give it all we have. KKM has great cars, and my job is just to be able to make something of the opportunity they’ve given me,” he said. “I always shoot for the stars, but even if we come up a little bit short of that, it gives us a chance to land on the moon.

“I’m not putting numbers on it yet, but I know we can be fast and contend for wins. I’m excited about that, for sure.”