From the team's 2021 inception through the February race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) this year, it was team co-owner B.J. McLeod who piloted the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports car for all NASCAR Cup Series superspeedway events, a streak that reached 30 (including his two Daytona DNQs) at Atlanta.
But the team changed things up at Talladega Superspeedway in April and handed the reins to Daniel Dye. In his Cup Series debut, Dye finished 24th.
While McLeod returned for his traditional superspeedway appearance at Atlanta in July, the team pivoted back to Dye for this past weekend's superspeedway regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, and his 29th place finish matched the team's best since his Cup debut. He also finished 29th at Pocono Raceway in June.
Dye is set to run one more race this year, that unsurprisingly being the late October race at Talladega, but the team have no plans to run any races other than that one.
Live Fast Motorsports, Daniel Dye out at Darlington
The No. 78 Chevrolet is not on the entry list for this Sunday's "Chase" playoff opener at Darlington Raceway. There are just two non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list at the track "Too Tough To Tame", so both are locked into the 367-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina.
They include the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) Ford, which Chad Finchum is set to drive for the seventh time this year in its 13th appearance, and the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, which two-time 2026 winner Corey Heim is set to drive for the 10th time this year as he prepares to make the full-time move to Cup next season.
A week ago, there were five, and the No. 66 Ford failed to qualify with Gray Gaulding behind the wheel, marking just the third non-Daytona 500 Cup Series DNQ since November 2018.
The Cook Out Southern 500 is set to be shown live on USA Network from Darlington Raceway starting at 5:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 6. Catch all of the action from the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason opener!
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