BJ McLeod’s dream of becoming a NASCAR driver could have been fulfilled years before it eventually happened. However, it would be at the cost of something unacceptable to him. Many would have thought McLeod’s brilliance coming through the ranks should have been enough, but that was not the case.

“I really dreamed of being in NASCAR from, you know, before 10 years old, right? probably around seven or eight.” It wasn’t at all unnatural for BJ McLeod to dream of being a stock car racing driver as a child. And after proving himself in the Late Models, he finally got a real shot at the NOAPS (then called the Busch Series) in the early 2000s.

Herzog–Jackson Motorsports took him for a test, and eventually, they wanted to sign him to run the Busch Series, but on a small condition: he would have to fire his agent.

“The last conversation I had was it was like something… I had to fire my agent and sign with this group. I don’t know what was going on. I don’t really know. I just know what I was told, right? And I was told I had to sign with these other agents,” he said on the Dale Jr. Download podcast.

While this was a massive opportunity for McLeod, he did not want to betray his agent. After all, it was his agent who helped him get to the stage from racing Late Models and helped him during the struggling parts of his racing career. McLeod, risking everything, refused to fire his agent, and the repercussions were apparent.

“I never got a phone call back. And it really just all ended right there as far as that one goes,” he said.

Everything that he had worked for was gone, in an instant. He never got the chance to run for the team in the Busch Series. He could have been Jimmie Johnson’s potential replacement. But Todd Bodine raced instead and also won a race. But eventually, the team ran short of sponsors and ceased operations at the end of the 2003 season.

But even though McLeod ended up missing the massive opportunity, he doesn’t regret it today: “To this day, I am thankful I made that decision. I have zero regret even knowing that you know Todd won, I think a race or two in that car and could have changed the whole landscape of me being you know 42 years old with zero wins.”

However, McLeod didn’t simply give up. In fact, he ended up running all three national-level series in NASCAR.

McLeod’s Cup Series journey

After well over a decade of missed Busch Series opportunities, BJ McLeod, through consistent and strong performances in the Super Late Model and Late Model Series, found an open seat in the NOAP Series with Rick Ware Racing in 2015. His performance in the team also got him entry into the Cup Series two years later.

While this was his breakthrough, he also established his own team, BJ McLeod Motorsports. He had been running in the Truck Series through his team since 2010, and when he had the resources, he expanded the team in the NOAP and Cup Series. His part-time participation in all three series continues even today, and BJ McLeod has run over three hundred races combined.

At the end of the day, he managed to fulfil his childhood dream of racing in NASCAR. In fact, he did it with quite the versatility. However, it might not have been in the way that he would have thought. Even after over 300 runs, McLeod has never won a race, and it’s quite understandable why. He didn’t get the experience he needed early in his career. The teams that he ran with did not have enough resources to make race-winning cars, and so, he had to settle for what he got.

Yet, BJ McLeod is one of the more respected figures around the sport. The accomplishments he managed to pull off, not coming from a racing background, are rather impressive. So, while he might not have won many races, he continues to win the hearts of the fans.