Live Fast Motorsports provides a big update on their future in the NASCAR Cup Series. Find out what Live Fast Motorsports had to say!
[autotag]Live Fast Motorsports[/autotag] joined the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2021 season after acquiring a charter from Go Fas Racing. B.J. McLeod, co-owner of Live Fast Motorsports, drove the No. 78 car for a majority of the year and that transitioned into 2022 and 2023. However, the organization sold its charter for around $40 million to Spire Motorsports beginning in 2024.
Yet, this doesn’t mean that Live Fast Motorsports will be disappearing. McLeod was open to questions during a media availability on November 14th and gave a pretty substantial update on the organization’s future. For those who want to see McLeod behind the wheel, this is a positive response.
“We’re still going to be in [the NASCAR Cup Series] part-time,” McLeod said. “I’m looking to run the [superspeedways] because we’re competitive there and then if we can put a driver in for the road courses. We showed great speed at the road courses this year with Josh Bilicki. He ran exceptionally well and that’s something that we’re looking forward in trying to put together.”
Unlike other NASCAR teams that leave the sport after selling a charter, Live Fast Motorsports appears to be continuing its operations into the 2024 season. The NASCAR organization will be forced to become an open team due to the move but it is good to see it continue. Now, the 2024 Daytona 500 has at least 37 entries with McLeod being one of them in the No. 78 car.
Live Fast Motorsports started the year with no intentions of selling its charter and still looking at being in the NASCAR Cup Series field for years to come. But co-owner B.J. McLeod admitted Tuesday that its plans changed with the realization of …
Live Fast Motorsports started the year with no intentions of selling its charter and still looking at being in the NASCAR Cup Series field for years to come. But co-owner B.J. McLeod admitted Tuesday that its plans changed with the realization of how fast the sport was moving and that the organization wasn’t meeting its goals.
“What caught me by surprise was the speed at which the sport advanced around Matt [Tifft, co-owner] and I and team Live Fast,” McLeod (pictured above) said. “That’s the part I didn’t anticipate and it just simply wasn’t in a strong enough position financially to be able to keep up with our surroundings. That happens in other businesses too, and you have to shift to make decisions and move, and it’s a good thing. It’s a good thing for everybody.
“But that is the part that caught me the most off guard. I knew the sport was growing, and I knew the excitement around it, and that’s the reason for the investment. But I didn’t see that we were going to end up getting pushed to 36th on average at most of the racetracks this quick.”
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From previous experience in the Cup Series, McLeod felt it wasn’t hard to run 30th on speed. But when the Next Gen car was introduced in 2022, while it helped some close the gap and created parity with 16 different winners in the regular season, it changed the benchmark of performance. McLeod’s No. 78 car, no matter the driver on a given race weekend, was pushed deeper into the field.
“And we didn’t improve much off that for 2023,” he said. “So, the surprise was the advancement of the sport around us happened quicker than we were able to build our partners with our team, because we’re such a new team. It just happened that way.”
Live Fast Motorsports announced the sale of its charter in September to Spire Motorsports. Neither side has confirmed details of the sale, but it was estimated at $40 million.
The organization debuted in 2021. It is co-owned by McLeod, former driver Tifft and Joe Folk. Next season, the car will run part-time on superspeedways and potentially road courses. However, Tifft is leaving the ownership group and will pursue opportunities to get back behind the wheel in late models or on dirt.
Live Fast Motorsports finished 36th in the owners’ championship.
“We definitely started out the year with big expectations and hopes we’d made a lot of improvements over the offseason, and we did switch to Chevrolet and got a little bit of help from RCR,” McLeod said. “That being said, we knew we were going to be a 30th or worse average team. We know where we’re at budget-wise and tenure-wise in the sport, and that’s just where we’re at. But we showed a couple of different times that we had really good speed, and we had made improvements.
“Then overall, with the competition in the sport right now, we just couldn’t see the repetitiveness and consistency that we wanted performance-wise to really live up to what we expected we could do in ’23. So that ultimately led to the charter sale.”
While pleased with his team’s efforts, McLeod didn’t see a way forward to fulfill expectations in the Cup Series given the realities it was facing. Gavin Baker/Motorsport Images
McLeod has no regrets about being a Cup Series owner, which fulfilled a life goal. He is still bullish about the sport and being a part of it going forward.
“Oh, absolutely; I’ll always be proud of this opportunity and this journey that we took with Matt, Joe and (wife) Jessica,” McLeod said. “Being a full-time Cup owner is something I’ll be proud of the rest of my life, and it was definitely pretty wild that we were even able to get there. Everybody knows my journey and has seen it, and it’s awesome that we pulled it off. I am definitely just thankful that it all worked out to where we got to do it for a couple of years.
“(We) didn’t check that goal of winning a Cup race yet, but you never know, we’re going to run some speedways so we might get lucky. But regardless, I am definitely still proud of what we accomplished and really, the businessman is what put me in this spot, and it’s what I’ve been since I was 19 years old. It’s a huge accomplishment what we all have done here, and that’s the side we’re all so proud of too.”
Spire Motorsports has purchased a charter – their third – from Live Fast Motorsports and will field Zane Smith in a Chevrolet next season as part of an alliance with Trackhouse Racing. “Spire Motorsports will acquire a NASCAR charter from Live Fast …
Spire Motorsports has purchased a charter — their third — from Live Fast Motorsports and will field Zane Smith in a Chevrolet next season as part of an alliance with Trackhouse Racing.
“Spire Motorsports will acquire a NASCAR charter from Live Fast Motorsports prior to the 2024 season and we’re thrilled to offer our support to Trackhouse Racing, a key member of the Chevrolet family,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “Spire has a longstanding relationship with Justin Marks and we are proud of everything he and all the men and women at Trackhouse have accomplished in a relatively short time.
“This cooperative agreement is also proof positive of the hard work of everyone at Spire Motorsports. We certainly wouldn’t be in this position without Mr. Hendrick and the competition group at Hendrick Motorsports so we continue to be grateful for that relationship. T.J. [Keen, Live Fast co-owner] and I are also grateful to B.J. McLeod and Matt Tifft for working with us on the charter acquisition. We’re looking at a watershed moment for our organization that further demonstrates our commitment to the sport.”
Smith will race alongside Corey Lajoie in the No. 7 Chevrolet. Spire Motorsports also fields the No. 77 Chevrolet for Ty Dillon, but Dillon’s future has not been confirmed.
Live Fast Motorsports confirmed the sale of its charter following the Spire Motorsports and Trackhouse Racing announcement. The small team has fielded the No. 78 full-time since 2021, doing so with multiple drivers including co-owner B.J. McLeod. Former driver Matt Tifft is also a co-owner.
“Live Fast Motorsports is confirming they have sold their charter to Spire Motorsports,” the team posted on X. “We will address the media in the coming time for further statements. We thank all of our partners, fans, and LFM employees for their following and dedication, and we plan to continue in a part-time schedule in 2024 with an open car.”
This NASCAR organization could be selling a charter ‘soon’ with Spire Motorsports among the suitors.
NASCAR silly season always puts on a show and this edition has not been any different. Josh Berry to Stewart-Haas Racing and Shane van Gisbergen to Trackhouse Racing top the list; however, there hasn’t been much charter movement due to the prices. Well, that could be coming to an end soon if the latest report is correct.
According to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern, [autotag]Live Fast Motorsports[/autotag] has declined to comment on the industry-wide speculation that the organization could be selling its charter “soon.” Spire Motorsports is among the suitors and could use a third charter to field Zane Smith on a lease from Trackhouse Racing if he were to sign.
.@TeamLiveFast has declined comment on @NASCAR industry chatter that it could sell its charter soon, with @SpireMotorsport seen as among the suitors.
🔲 Among options Spire would have with the charter is helping a team like Trackhouse if it needed a spot for @ZaneSmith in 2024. pic.twitter.com/hG5QWci1Vg
It was previously reported that Smith had been talking to Trackhouse Racing so this could be an indication that talks are becoming serious enough to where a charter sale is being considered. This will be something to keep an eye on as there has not been any charter movement in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2021.
Sheldon Creed will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut on September 10 at Kansas Speedway with Live Fast Motorsports. Creed will drive the No. 78 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Whelen Engineering. The company is a sponsor of Creed’s at Richard …
Sheldon Creed will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut on September 10 at Kansas Speedway with Live Fast Motorsports.
Creed will drive the No. 78 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Whelen Engineering. The company is a sponsor of Creed’s at Richard Childress Racing, where he competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
“I’m excited to race in a Cup race for the first time — that’s been the dream for a long time,” Creed said. “Whelen is a great company, and I’m appreciative for their support in allowing us to do this with Live Fast Motorsports. We hope to have a good day at Kansas Speedway come September.”
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In his second full Xfinity Series season with Childress, the 25-year-old is 10th in the championship standings with six top-10 finishes. Creed joined Childress after three full seasons competing in the Craftsman Truck Series with GMS Racing, where he won the 2020 championship.
Creed is a California native who made the transition to NASCAR after starting in off-road racing. In 12 starts in Stadium Super Trucks, Creed earned six wins. He has also competed in Trans Am and the ARCA Menards Series (where he won five races in 2018).
Live Fast Motorsports is co-owned by B.J. McLeod and former driver Matt Tifft. McLeod splits the No. 78 Chevrolet with a rotation of drivers.
