NASCAR: B.J. McLeod to drive for Rick Ware Racing at Daytona
By Asher Fair
B.J. McLeod is set to drive for Rick Ware Racing to open up the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season at Daytona International Speedway in the Daytona 500.
B.J. McLeod made his Daytona 500 debut driving for Rick Ware Racing in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, and he finished in a career-high 19th place after starting all the way back in 38th..
Now he is slated to return to the team for this year’s edition of the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
McLeod is set to drive the #52 Chevrolet in next Sunday’s 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked superspeedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida.
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The #52 Chevrolet is notably one of the 36 chartered entries, so McLeod will be guaranteed a starting position in this race no matter how he qualifies.
He is set to be one of three drivers behind the wheel of a chartered car who are not slated to compete full-time in the 2020 season. The other two are David Ragan, who is set to drive the #36 Ford for Rick Ware Racing with support from Front Row Motorsports, and Ross Chastain, who is set to drive the #77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.
This news comes after J.J. Yeley, who was confirmed as one of the team’s two full-time drivers for the upcoming season just a few months ago, was moved to the non-chartered #54 Chevrolet for this race.
The confirmation of McLeod behind the wheel of the #52 Chevrolet is the 43rd confirmation for this race, and the provisional entry list has now been released, meaning that three drivers will ultimately fail to qualify with the field being capped at 40 entries.
McLeod has made 41 Cup Series starts over the course of four seasons going back to 2015, including a career-high 18 in the 2019 season, all for Rick Ware Racing. For Rick Ware Racing, 18 starts in a single season by one driver is also the highest in team history.
Aside of his start in last year’s Daytona 500, the 36-year-old Wauchula, Florida native has only ever competed in one other Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway, that being last season’s rain-shortened July race at the track. He started in 35th place and finished in 28th.
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Fox is set to broadcast the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 live from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET next Sunday, February 16.