(cover photo credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
By Adam Carabine
In case you missed it, StatChat is counting down the days ‘til the 2023 Daytona 500. Every two days, we will have a new article featuring one of the 36 charters of 2022.
36th Place – #78 Car – 270 pts
LIVE FAST MOTORSPORTS – FORD (in 2022)
BJ McLeod (29 races) – Josh Williams (3 races) – Kyle Tilley (2 races) – Andy Lally & Scott Heckert (1 race each)
6 Lead Lap Finishes – There’s no way to sugar coat it, the #78 Car just didn’t have the speed to keep up with the big guns this year. Some predicted that the introduction of the Next-Gen Car would completely level the playing field, and though it did help bridge the gap between some of the 2nd or 3rd tier teams, Live Fast Motorsports’ funding discrepancies showed up on the track in a big way.
+4.31 Average Finish compared to Average Start – Despite the previous stat, the #78 Car certainly outran its own expectations. Whether you chalk this up to underperforming during qualifying, or being able to make up position on the track, the #78 Car had the 2nd best numbers in this category.
0 Stage Points – The #78 Car was the only one of the 36 charters who did not earn a single stage point this year. Understandably, the goals of Live Fast this year were not to contend for victories or stage points, but every other back-marker collected at least one stage point in 2022.
5 Different Drivers in the 78 Car – BJ McLeod was the main driver of the #78, having driven 29 of the 36 races in the 2022 season. Josh Williams drove 3 races – the Bristol Dirt race, Indy Road Course, and Charlotte Roval. Kyle Tilley competed at Road America and Watkins Glen. Andy Lally was at COTA, while Scott Heckert was at Sonoma.
7th – Best Finish in 2022 – The Coke Zero Sugar 400 @ Daytona, which also was the final race of the regular season, was Live Fast Motorsports’ best finish of the year, as BJ McLeod finished 7th. With some major contending names being taken out in crashes, it was a fairly wild Top-10. Austin Dillon went on to win the race and punch his ticket to the playoffs at the last possible moment. Landon Cassill in the 77, Noah Gragson driving Beard Motorsports’ #62, Cody Ware and David Ragan all made appearances in the Top-10.
Live Fast Motorsports, owned by BJ McLeod, Matt Tifft, and Joe Falk, will return to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023. Recently, the team announced they would be switching to Chevrolet for the upcoming season. At the time of publishing, no driver announcements have been made, but we expect BJ McLeod to make the majority of starts again.
Coming up next in the Countdown to Daytona series – Cody Ware!
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