NASCAR driver, team not competing at Las Vegas after season debut

B.J. McLeod drove the No. 78 Chevrolet for the Live Fast Motorsports team he co-owns this past weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway after missing out on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway following a crash in his Bluegreen Vacations Duel.

After a 24th place finish in the Ambetter Health 400, McLeod and the team will not be competing in this coming Sunday afternoon's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Live Fast Motorsports are only running a partial schedule in 2024, and they are doing so without a charter. They have only confirmed four more starts for the rest of the 2024 season, all in the superspeedway races.

When is Live Fast Motorsports' next race?

Those four races include the two races at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, April 21 and Sunday, October 6, the second race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 24, and the second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 8.

While McLeod drove the No. 78 Chevrolet during both race weekends so far this season, the team have not yet confirmed drivers for any of these four events.

The McLeod and Matt Tifft-owned team entered the Cup Series in 2021 after acquiring a charter from the now defunct Go Fas Racing, and they competed full-time with the No. 78 car (Ford in 2021 and 2022, Chevrolet in 2023).

But after the 2023 season, they sold their charter for roughly $40 million, a record amount, to Spire Motorsports, which are now running three full-time entries for the first time.

The only non-charter car on the entry list for this weekend's 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas, Nevada oval is the No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, the only other car that failed to qualify for the Daytona 500.

J.J. Yeley, who drove the car at Daytona International Speedway, is set to drive it again at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, officially making the 2024 season his 20th season in the Cup Series.

Tune in to Fox at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 3 for the live broadcast of the Pennzoil 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. If you have not yet had the chance to start a free trial of FuboTV, do so today!