NASCAR post-Off Week Team check ins: Live Fast, Wood Brothers, Rick Ware Racing, JTG
After the NASCAR off-week, let’s look in and see how Cup Series teams have fared through the first 16 races.
While not exactly halfway through the season, the NASCAR off-week gave Cup Series teams a good period to check in on their 2023 progress. Let’s check in with those teams ahead of the series' return at Nashville this Sunday.
Live Fast Motorsports: #78 (Multiple drivers)
Photo: Evan McNelia
Live Fast Motorsports has had about as good of a start to 2023 as would be expected from a backmarker team. Team owner and primary driver, BJ McLeod has been working to find a rhythm after Live Fast changed manufacturers from Ford to Chevrolet during the off-season. The team placed 36th in 2022, last out of the chartered teams. And it currently holds the same position, 30 points back from the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevy.
The team’s best performance came at Talladega Superspeedway as McLeod drove the car to an 18th-place finish for the team’s lone top-20. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Anthony Alfredo drove the car at Richmond and Martinsville but couldn’t break into the top 30. Josh Bilicki has run three races and had his best race at Circuit of the Americas, where he placed 26th.
They’ll be looking to find more consistency inside of the top 30 through the back end of the season.
Wood Brothers Racing: #21 (Harrison Burton)
Photo: Evan McNelia
Wood Brothers Racing’s No. 21 Ford currently sits in 29th place in the point standings. Harrison Burton has matched his pace from his rookie season nearly perfectly through the first 16 races.
Burton has six top-20 finishes matching his total from this point in the season last year. Though, he has one top-10 to his name this season as he placed 6th at Darlington Raceway. Last year it took Burton until the Atlanta summer race to record his first career top-10.
Currently unsigned for 2024, Burton will be looking for improved finishes down the stretch to help his stock. This year he has shown improved consistency with one less DNF through the first segment than he had last season. However, finding the top 20 more consistently has to be a priority for Burton.
Rick Ware Racing: #15 & #51 (Multiple drivers)
Photo: Evan McNelia
Rick Ware Racing has kept its cars running pretty even to start the season holding 32nd and 33rd in the standings, separated by just two points.
Seven races into the season, the team faced adversity after Cody Ware, the full-time driver of the No. 51 Ford, was arrested and charged with assault. He was subsequently suspended by NASCAR.
The team has relied on a group of drivers including some of the rotational drivers of the No. 15 to help keep the No. 51 in action. The group includes NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers Matt Crafton and Zane Smith who ran the next two races of the season.
JJ Yeley started the next race at Talladega and finished 11th, the best finish for the team since 2022’s second Daytona race. Yeley has run the most races of the replacements with four starts.
At Darlington, Ryan Newman made his Cup Series return. It was his first event since the 2021 season-finale at Phoenix. Newman placed 28th in his one-off appearance. Todd Gilliland filled in at Charlotte and Sonoma.
The No. 15 car sits two points in front of the No. 51 after 16 races thanks to top-20 performances from, Yeley, Xfinity Series driver Riley Herbst and 2009 F1 World Champion Jensen Button.
Herbst tackled both superspeedway races placing 10th in the Daytona 500 and 20th in the GEICO 500 at Talladega. Yeley has run the most races with seven starts. He finished top 20 in the Bristol Dirt Race and at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600.
Button received the nod at Circuit of the Americas where he placed 18th in his NASCAR debut. He will also be racing later this season at the Chicago Street Course and the Indianapolis Road Course.
Xfinity drivers Brennan Poole, Gray Gaulding and WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driver Andy Lally, have also gotten opportunities in the No. 15 this season.
It will be interesting to see everyone who aids in driving the No. 51 until the end of the season and what 2024 will hold for RWR.
JTG Daugherty Racing: #47 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.)
Photo: Evan McNelia
After winning the Daytona 500, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has had JTG Daugherty Racing rolling this season. The No. 47 Chevrolet sits 14th in the Owners Points Standings.
Even as a single-car team, JTG is ranked 12th out of Cup Series teams in total points. It sits ahead of Legacy Motor Club and is just 22 points behind Spire Motorsports, both of which are two-car teams. Legacy additionally runs the No. 84 part-time.
Stenhouse has five total top-10 finishes this season including a fourth-place performance in the Bristol Dirt Race. He’s finished outside of the top 20 a mere three times this season and only has had one DNF, which came at World Wide Technology Raceway. He had a seven-race top-20 streak between the Bristol Dirt Race and the Coke 600.
Running with a playoff spot locked up for the first time since 2014 and possibly the most consistency the team has ever had, JTG will strive to continue putting solid runs together in hopes of making a major impact come playoffs.