| B. J. McLeod | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 McLeod atPocono Raceway in 2023 | |||||||
| Born | Burton Darwin McLeod Jr. (1983-11-17)November 17, 1983 (age 42) Wauchula, Florida, U.S. | ||||||
| Achievements | 2004Red Eye 100 Winner 2006Bright House Challenge Series Champion (Inaugural Season) | ||||||
| NASCARCup Series career | |||||||
| 149 races run over 10 years | |||||||
| Car no., team | No. 78 (Live Fast Motorsports) | ||||||
| 2025 position | 48th | ||||||
| Best finish | 45th (2022) | ||||||
| First race | 2015Sylvania 300 (New Hampshire) | ||||||
| Last race | 2025YellaWood 500 (Talladega) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career | |||||||
| 172 races run over 10 years | |||||||
| 2024 position | 40th | ||||||
| Best finish | 20th (2016,2019) | ||||||
| First race | 20153M 250 (Iowa) | ||||||
| Last race | 2024Pennzoil 250 (Indianapolis) | ||||||
| |||||||
| NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career | |||||||
| 42 races run over 13 years | |||||||
| 2025 position | 56th | ||||||
| Best finish | 32nd (2015) | ||||||
| First race | 2010Kroger 200 (Martinsville) | ||||||
| Last race | 2025North Carolina Education Lottery 200 (Charlotte) | ||||||
| |||||||
| ARCA Menards Series career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 144th (2014) | ||||||
| First race | 2014ModSpace 125 (Pocono) | ||||||
| |||||||
| Statistics up to date as of November 6, 2025. | |||||||
Burton Darwin "B. J."McLeod Jr.[1][2] (born November 17, 1983) is an American professionalstock car racing driver and team owner. McLeod co-ownsLive Fast Motorsports (along withJoe Falk), aNASCAR Cup Series team which fields the No. 78Chevrolet ZL1, which he drives part-time. McLeod has also previously competed in theNASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series,NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and theARCA Menards Series.
Early in his career, McLeod was ago-kart andsuper late model driver in the Southeast.[3] He was noted around the Southeast for being the youngest driver in several of the divisions he competed in as a teenager, including theHooters Pro Cup.[4] In 2000, McLeod competed in two Pro Cup races atHickory Motor Speedway andUSA International Speedway, with a best finish of 31st in the former.[5] The following year, he ran anAmerican Speed Association National Tour race atFairgrounds Speedway forHerzog Motorsports, finishing fifteenth.[6] After a test session with Herzog, McLeod had an agreement in place to run a limitedNASCAR Busch Series schedule for the team in 2002 but it never materialized.[7]
McLeod began racing inNASCAR's top three series in 2010, making hisCamping World Truck Series debut atMartinsville Speedway in the No. 9 forGermain Racing; after qualifying 23rd, he finished seventeenth.[8] The following year he split time in a partial schedule with his own team,SS-Green Light Racing andRSS Racing.[9] In 2012, McLeod again ran a partial schedule, this time with RSS,Glenden Enterprises andHillman Racing.[10] For 2013, he focused on his own team and only made one race, the season finale atHomestead–Miami Speedway.[11] The following year McLeod served as a part-timestart and park driver for SS-Green Light.[12] In 2015, while doing a part-time Xfinity schedule, McLeod again started and parked, this time for his own team.[13] While running a 2016 full-time Xfinity schedule, McLeod came back to the Trucks with SSGLR for one race in 2016, turning in a top-fifteen, lead-lap finish atKansas Speedway in the No. 07.[14]
Each year since2017 except for 2022, McLeod has made at least one start in the Truck Series each year, mostly drivingstart and park or other backmarker entries in the series. In 2017, he made one start forNorm Benning Racing and another two forCopp Motorsports in partnership withMB Motorsports. In 2018, McLeod failed to qualify for the season-opener at Daytona forTJL Motorsports, and then ran one race with three other teams:Beaver Motorsports,Mike Harmon Racing, andReaume Brothers Racing. McLeod also made one additional attempt with both Harmon and Reaume's teams that year, which ended up being DNQs. McLeod made one start forVizion Motorsports using Beaver's owner points in 2019, along with one DNQ for Jacob Wallace Racing. He returned to RBR in 2020 and 2021, attempting one race in each season.
On February 2, 2023,G2G Racing ownerTim Viens stated in an interview forTobyChristie.com that McLeod andBrennan Poole would drive for the team in the races at Las Vegas and Atlanta in March, with one driver in the No. 46 and the other in the No. 47 truck.[15] However, McLeod did not end up running either race for the team.
On May 16, 2025,Spire Motorsports announced that McLeod would drive their No. 07 truck inthe race at Charlotte with sponsorship from thePigeon Forge Racing Coaster, arguably giving him his first opportunity in NASCAR in competitive equipment.[16]
In 2014, he ran anARCA Racing Series event atPocono Raceway forVenturini Motorsports, finishing 27th.[17] He drove the team's No. 15Zaxby's Toyota, substituting for the injuredJohn Wes Townley. This has been McLeod's only ARCA start to date.
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In 2015, he joinedRick Ware Racing atIowa Speedway for hisXfinity Series debut, retiring after 68 laps due to brake troubles, and was credited with a 36th-place finish.[18] McLeod then proceeded to bounce between different teams, starting and parking and running full races. McLeod in that season ran for RWR, a partnership betweenSS-Green Light Racing andYoung's Motorsports,MBM Motorsports, andKing Autosport.[19]
McLeod took on a full-time Xfinity schedule in 2016, his first full slate in a NASCAR national series. He ran the full schedule with his ownB. J. McLeod Motorsports No. 78 car, scoring three top twenty finishes.[20]
In 2017, McLeod rotated between the Nos. 78 and 8 while taking some races off to give topay drivers as he focused on making his team better.[21]
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McLeod made hisSprint Cup Series debut in the2015 Sylvania 300, driving the No. 33Chevrolet SS forCircle Sport.[22] Two years later, he returned to the Cup Series and Ware for the2017 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky, driving the No. 51.[23] McLeod continued to drive part-time in the No. 51 car, recording his first top-thirty finish atKansas Speedway.[24]
In 2019, McLeod joined Ware for hisDaytona 500 debut.[25] During the race, McLeod and fellow RWR teammateCody Ware crashed while several cars were entering pit road, with McLeod spinning into the grass in the tri-oval;[26] despite the wreck, McLeod would continue the race and finish nineteenth due to most of his fellow competitors being involved in crashes throughout the race. McLeod would then participate in 17 other events for Rick Ware Racing across their No. 51, No. 52, and No. 53 cars.[27]
McLeod returned to RWR for the2020 Daytona 500 in the No. 52, where he,Aric Almirola, andQuin Houff crashed on the backstretch on lap 160, causing him to finish 38th.[28] In May, McLeod expanded hisB. J. McLeod Motorsports team to the Cup level, running the No. 78 for the team in several races beginning withThe Real Heroes 400 atDarlington Raceway.[29][30] McLeod's team did a total of 15 races in 2020, with plans at one point to participate in the races at Martinsville and Homestead, however, the team withdrew from those two races. Also, at times when BJMM was participating in some Cup races, McLeod was driving forSpire Motorsports' No. 77, or he was not participating in those races when his No. 78 was entered.
McLeod, running for his newly createdLive Fast Motorsports team, survived the chaos throughout the2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 to initially finish in tenth place.Chris Buescher would later be disqualified from second place, bumping McLeod up to ninth place. This race marked his first top-ten in any of the top three NASCAR divisions. After LFM sold their charter toSpire Motorsports at the end of the2023 season, the team scaled back to running part-time. McLeod attempted to run the2024 Daytona 500 but failed to make the race after finishing fourteenth in Duel 2 of the2024 Bluegreen Vacations Duels.[31] He would lead laps at Talladega with a best finish of nineteenth all year at the2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.
McLeod started adriver development program, known asB. J. McLeod Motorsports, running late model andK&N Pro Series East events,[3] and fielded rides for drivers likeMatt Tifft[32] andScott Heckert.[33] In 2014, McLeod partnered withTommy Regan to field a Truck Series team, the No. 45, for Regan atIowa Speedway; despite initially having to qualify faster than two other trucks to qualify,Wauters Motorsports and thestart and park ride ofMB Motorsports withdrew, guaranteeing the No. 45 a spot in the race. Regan finished last after ignition problems on lap one.[34]
The team made itsNASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Daytona in 2016, fielding two cars: the No. 78 and No. 99 Fords. McLeod ran the full season in the 78 and ran the 99 part-time with drivers likeTodd Peck,Stanton Barrett, andJeff Green. He also ran a third part-time team, the No. 15, in an alliance withRick Ware Racing, with Peck driving most of the races.
In 2017, McLeod expanded to two full-time teams; originally the plan was for McLeod to drive the 78 and forJeff Green to drive the 8 car.[35] The team also entered a 99 car with last year's owner points; however, the team is operated bySS-Green Light Racing. McLeod took the first two races of the season off to putClint King in the car.[36] Later in the season, at Talladega, Green led the team's first laps and scored its first top ten finish.[37] Green, however, would only drive one more race for the team,[38] as McLeod slotted to the 8 car and a rotation of drivers includingTommy Joe Martins,Jordan Anderson,Angela Ruch,Stephen Young,Josh Bilicki,John Graham andJennifer Jo Cobb drove the 78.
On October 23, 2020, McLeod andMatt Tifft purchased Archie St. Hilare's half ofGo Fas Racing's charter and formedLive Fast Motorsports. McLeod and Tifft used the charter full-time from 2021 until they sold it toSpire Motorsports at the end of the 2023 season.[39] B. J. McLeod Motorsports will continue operating at the Xfinity level.[40]
For the2024 season, McLeod attempted to run the2024 Daytona 500, but failed to make the race after finishing fourteenth in Duel 2 of the2024 Bluegreen Vacations Duels.[41] He ran a total of five races with LFM and two withMBM Motorsports in 2024 and finished 51st in the drivers' points standings. On December 19, LFM announced the team will run all six superspeedway races and theCoca-Cola 600 in2025.[42]
During the2025 season, McLeod failed to qualify for the2025 Daytona 500. On March 3, the team announced thatKatherine Legge will drive the No. 78 car in her Cup Series debut atPhoenix.[43]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| Year | Team | Manufacturer | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet | 38 | 19 |
| 2020 | Ford | 38 | 38 | |
| 2021 | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford | 38 | 23 |
| 2022 | 37 | 27 | ||
| 2023 | Chevrolet | 32 | 30 | |
| 2024 | DNQ | |||
| 2025 | DNQ | |||
* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
2 Switched from Xfinity to Truck points on May 4[68]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
| ARCA Racing Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | ARSC | Pts | Ref |
| 2014 | Venturini Motorsports | 15 | Toyota | DAY | MOB | SLM | TAL | TOL | NJE | POC | MCH | ELK | WIN | CHI | IRP | POC 27 | BLN | ISF | MAD | DSF | SLM | KEN | KAN | 144th | 70 | [69] |
