For the first time since they sold their charter to Spire Motorsports following the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, Live Fast Motorsports have run three consecutive Cup Series races.
Team co-owner B.J. McLeod finished in 16th place, the third-best finish in the five-year history of the team, behind the wheel of the No. 78 Chevrolet at Atlanta Motor Speedway, before Katherine Legge took over and finished in a career-high 19th at the Chicago Street Course, marking the team's first-ever stint of back-to-back top 20 finishes.
Legge returned for this past weekend's race at Sonoma Raceway and finished in 31st place, and it was recently announced that she is set to return for next weekend's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, marking just her second ever Cup Series oval appearance and first since her much-maligned debut at Phoenix Raceway in March.
But this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, the No. 78 car is not on the entry list.
It marks the first absence of McLeod's team since last month's race at Pocono Raceway. The team have now made eight appearances (seven starts plus McLeod's Daytona 500 DNQ) so far this season. McLeod has made three starts while Legge has made four, as she also competed in the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez the week before the Pocono race.
As for Sunday afternoon's Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, the only non-chartered (open) car on the entry list, excluding the impending open status of the three-car 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports teams, is the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, which ironically hasn't appeared since Live Fast Motorsports' most recent absence at Pocono.
J.J. Yeley is set to drive the No. 44 Chevrolet in this 400-lap race around the four-turn, 1.0-mile (1.609-kilometer) high-banked "Monster Mile" oval in Dover, Delaware after Brennan Poole made his first start since 2023 at Pocono. Yeley has made five starts so far this year, plus his season-opening Daytona 500 DNQ.
Aside from next weekend's Brickyard 400, Live Fast Motorsports also plan to compete in the upcoming regular season race at Watkins Glen International, again with Legge behind the wheel of the No. 78 Chevrolet. Their plans to compete at Richmond Raceway appear to have been scrapped following confirmation of their Brickyard 400 plans.
McLeod plans to return for the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway and the playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway, while Legge is also set to compete in the playoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 is set to be shown live on TNT Sports from Dover Motor Speedway starting at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 20.