Fan-Favorite Team Owner Exposes NASCAR’s Charter System, Forcing Him to Avoid Bad Business Decisions

‘Rebuild’ has been BJ McLeod’s motto since becoming almost 40 million dollars richer from selling Spire Motorsports the costliest charter in NASCAR history. The 40-year-old owner-driver from Florida is one of stock car racing’s most interesting characters in recent years. Considering the ‘open team’ co-owner juggles not just owning and driving a part-time Cup Series entry, but also running his recently downsized self-titled Xfinity Series team, he faces situations unique to very few in the broad NASCAR spectrum.

Nevertheless, in the face of rapid advancements accelerated due to the Next Gen’s ‘chartered’ drive, ‘bad business’ decisions are something BJ McLeod just cannot afford to make in 2024.

Why did BJ McLeod sell NASCAR’s costliest charter?

Although McLeod had driven Rick Ware Racing’s #51 and #52 cars multiple times from 2017 to 2019, his first full-time Cup Series start came in his now-infamous #78 full-time joint venture with Virginia businessman Joe Falk in 2021. LFM’s most recent outing in NASCAR’s premier tier has been as a non-chartered entry at Atlanta in February of this year, where McLeod took his RCR-backed #78 Chevrolet to a decent P24 finish.

Some of you would remember back in September of 2023 when Live Fast made all the noise after selling their full-time charter spot to Spire Motorsports, who, in turn, became a three-car organization with Zane Smith’s #71 Camaro ZL1 starting in 2024. But ‘why did McLeod even sell the charter in the first place?’ That is exactly what Carla Gebhart, the host of DJD Reloaded, asked car #78’s current ‘part-time’ owner-driver.

McLeod explains, “We had goals when we started and honestly planned on owning our charter for a couple of decades. The longer we went, we built up some sponsorship, and we were making progress with that, we were able to spend more money and have better vehicles, and ultimately the last year we ran, which was last year. We spent a lot of money on our side to improve and our finishing position didn’t improve one spot…”

According to McLeod, “It become to be a realization that we (LFM) weren’t gonna be able to grow as fast as the sport had grown, and with the charters and the values, the way they build up, it just was a bad business decision to keep going and I’m not about that.” He then continued to lay down an apt conclusion for his current situation. “The quickest route for me to be able to drive a competitive car in the Cup series was to sell and have more capital, and just run less races,” said BJ McLeod in candid revelations. 

As it so happens, his eight-year-old Xfinity team, BJ McLeod Motorsports, will now also run on a part-time schedule in 2024, with a possible return date of next year.

Retooling for the Future

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In an official statement on the website of his Xfinity Series team, co-owned by his wife Jessica, McLeod said, “Although we’ve had a great start to the 2024 season, earning two Top-15’s and one Top-20 in the first four races, we’re committed to building a Top-15 contending team week in and week out. Right now, we feel a part-time schedule will allow us the extra time we need to build up our infrastructure to be able to compete at that level for our remaining races in 2024 and beyond.”

He also confirms, however, that they will be “optimistically” looking forward to competing in “the 2025 season.” Following the disappointing post-Phoenix announcement, updates on the #78 Camaro’s Xfinity advances reveal a sale of all its owner points. SS-Greenlight Racing, another one of RCR’s technical allies in the NXS, has acquired these points since and used them on their own #7 entry.

Nonetheless, the story for BJ McLeod and NASCAR’s current most popular ‘open entry’ has not yet finished, and a surprise could be in the making, as soon as next year.