The production on the album was handled by multiple producers including Nick Mira, Boi-1da, Hit-Boy, No I.D., Frank Dukes, and Tommy Brown, among others.

Thomas Hobbs of NME gave a positive 4 star (out of 5) review, stating "Juice Wrld is far less indulgent than XXX[Tentacion], not getting lost in the idea that he's a messianic creative.

From the seemingly sincere lyrics to the equally candid delivery, Juice truly goes with his gut in whichever way (rap, sing, hum, sob)".

[20] Danny Schwartz of Rolling Stone said in his 3 and half star (out of 5) review that, "Death Race succeeded in its most fundamental mission, which was to prove that "Lucid Dreams" was not a fluke.

[23] The Guardian's Kate Hutchinson stated: "It's slim on features (only Young Thug, Clever and Brent Faiyaz) but big on misanthropic head-nodders that put Juice's Fall Out Boy-style whine or raspy flow to the fore: he is more versatile than his peers and also more gifted...

[3] Steve "Flash" Juon of RapReviews said at the end of his 6.5 out of 10 review that while he enjoyed the "catchy tunes" at times, that it was "hard to call them rap songs and even harder to ignore the subtext that drugs are both the cause of and solution to his problems.

It's easy to pretend Juice WRLD is just a fiction [sic] character Jarad Higgins portrays for the sake of music, but too many of his peers have died over the years for me to safely assume it's all just a gimmick.

"[22] PopMatters critic Mike Schiller said, "The ratio of bangers to duds...is not great, and Death Race for Love feels an awful lot like an unabridged teenage diary; while the occasional clever turn of phrase and moment of profundity is sure to bubble up, most of it is simple self-indulgence, an onslaught of pure emotion whose sincerity is never in question, but all of which starts to blur together after a mere few pages or songs".

[21] Fred Thomas was also critical of the album in the review for AllMusic, stating "There's no shortage of highlights, but the lack of editing or focus means every song goes on a little too long and leads to another one that struggles to connect stylistically or emotionally".

[15] Death Race for Love debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 165,000 album-equivalent units (including 43,000 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.