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NASCAR Cup team changes drivers for Atlanta after ending 30-race streak

B.J. McLeod is set to be back behind the wheel for his Live Fast Motorsports team on a superspeedway this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Daniel Dye, Live Fast Motorsports, NASCAR Cup Series
Daniel Dye, Live Fast Motorsports, NASCAR Cup Series | Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

During Live Fast Motorsports' first three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2021 to 2023, they were a chartered team and ran the No. 78 Ford (later No. 78 Chevrolet) full-time.

In every single superspeedway race at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, it was team owner B.J. McLeod who drove the car, and that trend continued when Atlanta Motor Speedway (now EchoPark Speedway) became a superspeedway in 2022 following its repave.

Even after the team sold their charter after the 2023 season, they have been at every superspeedway race. McLeod again ran all six superspeedway races for the team in both 2024 and 2025, although his Daytona 500 qualifying efforts resulted in DNQs both years.

B.J. McLeod back after 30-race superspeedway streak ends

To start the 2026 season, McLeod successfully qualified for the Daytona 500 and also ran the season's second race at Atlanta. But after driving the car during every single one of the 30 superspeedway race weekends from when the team was established in the 2021 season through February 2026, that streak ended in late April at Talladega.

Instead of McLeod, it was Daniel Dye who made his Cup Series debut behind the wheel of the No. 78 Chevrolet at Talladega, and he placed 24th, which remains the team's best finish of the year. Dye also competed at Pocono Raceway in June and placed 29th, good for the team's second-best finish of the season through their first six starts.

But after McLeod's superspeedway streak ended at Talladega, he is set to be back behind the wheel of the No. 78 car this weekend in Atlanta.

The No. 78 car is one of just two non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list for Sunday night's 260-lap Quaker State 400 around the four-turn, 1.54-mile (2.478-kilometer) high-banked Hampton, Georgia oval, so McLeod is locked into the race.

The other is the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) Ford, which is set to be driven by Chad Finchum. Carl Long's team planned to enter the Atlanta race in February with Casey Mears in the No. 66 car, but they withdrew from the entry list.

Katherine Legge is the only other driver to have driven the No. 78 car this year, doing so in the road course race at Watkins Glen International and in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as a part of her historic attempt at the Memorial Day Double back in May.

TNT Sports is set to broadcast the Quaker State 400 live from EchoPark Speedway starting at 7:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 12. Don't miss the third race of the 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge tournament!

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