NASCAR team announces manufacturer change for 2023

Live Fast Motorsports, which have not yet announced their 2023 NASCAR Cup Series driver lineup, have announced a manufacturer change for next year.

Yesterday afternoon, the Live Fast Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team teased an announcement featuring “big news” for Thursday at 10:00 a.m. ET, and today they made that announcement as planned.

The Matt Tifft and B.J. McLeod-owned team have announced that they will be switching from Ford to Chevrolet after spending their first two Cup Series seasons with the former.

They have also confirmed that they will be receiving engine support from ECR Engines for their #78 Chevrolet in 2023.

Live Fast Motorsports are one of three teams without any confirmed drivers for the 2023 season, though it is likely that they will continue to do what they’ve done since entering the Cup Series in 2021.

McLeod has been the team’s primary driver, competing in 28 of 36 races on the 2021 schedule and 29 of 36 races on the 2022 schedule. He has competed in all of the oval races except for the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Other drivers have been called upon to compete in the dirt race and the road course races.

In 2021, Shane Golobic competed in the dirt race while Scott Heckert and Kyle Tilley each competed in three road course races and Andy Lally competed in the other.

In 2022, Josh Williams competed in the dirt race and two road course races. Tilley also competed in two road course races, and Lally and Heckert each competed in one.

McLeod owns the team’s only two top 10 finishes, having finished in ninth and seventh place in the 2021 and 2022 regular season finales at Daytona International Speedway. He is also responsible for their only other top 20 finishes, having finished in 19th at both Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2022.

The only other teams without confirmed drivers for the 2023 season are Ford teams Front Row Motorsports (two cars) and Rick Ware Racing (two cars). The season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 19 with the 65th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

As for the #78 team, it finished in 36th (last) place in the owner standings in 2022 after a 31st place finish in 2021. If any team finishes in the bottom three (34th or lower) for three consecutive seasons, NASCAR reserves the right to repossess that team’s charter.