LAS VEGAS: When it comes to racing, Corey LaJoie is a realist.
Although he’s 12th in the NASCAR Cup standings with the third-best average finish of 8.5, the driver of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet isn’t ready to call the season a success after just two races.
Still, with Spire blossoming over the last two seasons, the 32-year-old third-generation racer has continued to elevate himself from also-ran status.
“It comes from experience, decently fast cars and knowing where to put yourself in the end,” LaJoie said. “If we don’t get banged up when the 6 (Brad Keselowski) spins at Atlanta, I think we still could have contended for the win there. But who knows?
“I love that we’re starting off the season strong. We just have to sustain it for 34 more weeks.”
LaJoie rolls off 17th for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway—his best qualifying effort this year.
To survive the first two events with top-15 finishes for the first time in LaJoie’s career is a milestone for the driver. He hopes to improve on his 25th position in the 2023 Cup standings—a career high. While LaJoie had been solid at Daytona in the past, his fourth-place finish two weeks ago was a personal best and just the fourth top five of his career.
Since SMI reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway for the 2022 season, LaJoie has enjoyed two top-five results in the spring race. He finished 13th last Sunday. When he watched the replay on Monday, LaJoie’s heart was pounding. Even from his couch, the driver described the action as wild. Behind the wheel, he tightened his belts lap after lap.
“There was one run in the second stage I just had to get to the bottom and bail because my brain couldn’t process where the moves were coming from or where the energy is,” LaJoie said. “I had to recalibrate, give myself a breather and then re-engage.
Like most of his fellow competitors, he was blown away by the “entertainment factor” of Atlanta.
“If you could do an entertaining race like that every week, why wouldn’t you want to deliver that for the fans,” LaJoie said. “Halfway through the race, I was like, ‘Damn, why don’t they fire up the bulldozers at Texas right now and start digging it up?’
“That’s the worst track on our schedule, and they have the blueprint for what an entertaining race track looks like now. There’s probably some things you can tweak at Atlanta to where it doesn’t race quite like that—that’s way above my pay grade—but I’d like to see some things done to Texas in particular for being how important that market is.”
Certainly, the transformation of Spire Motorsports has played a key part in LaJoie’s ascendance. In the last year, the company moved into the former Kyle Busch Motorsports shop in Mooresville, N.C. Spire expanded its footprint to add a third Cup car and three full-time truck teams.
LaJoie believes Spire “has come a tremendously long way’ compared to its humble beginnings when the team owners had a charter and not even a brick and mortar building to call home.
“From a fan’s point of view, it won’t seem like very much because two or three spots in the Cup Series is very, very hard to get,” said LaJoie. “But from us to go from legitimately a start-and-park team when I signed up to a competitive team that’s winning truck races—and competing for top 10s on Sunday (in Cup), I don’t think people realize how freaking hard that is.”
Spire drivers have won two of the first three Craftsman Truck Series races of the season with Busch at Atlanta and first-time victor Rajah Caruth on Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“It’s cool to see Spire as the place that has allowed him to continue to grow,” LaJoie said of Caruth, 21. “Everybody’s story is unique and everybody’s cards that are dealt are different. And I think he’s been playing his hand of cards the right way with not comparing himself to guys his age whether it’s Taylor Gray or even Nick (Sanchez) in similar situations.
“I know how bad he wants it. I know how hard he works. I think it’s great for the sport. He’s a good looking kid, super mature for his age and has all the talent to match…I think he’s done a good job of trying to get better, trying to work on his weaknesses and I think this is going to be a breakout year for him.-
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
