Corey Lajoie received an early Christmas present Thursday.
Go Fas Racing has tapped Lajoie, son of two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Randy Lajoie to pilot the team’s No. 32 Ford Mustangs for the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season beginning with the 61st annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019.
Lajoie, 27, is a third-generation racer behind grandfather Don Lajoie, a member of the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame and father Randy who made 44 Cup starts from 1985 to 2005.
“I’ve always respected Archie (St. Hilaire, team owner), Mason (St. Hilaire, team manager) and Go Fas Racing for constantly building their race better year after year,” Lajoie said. “I’m glad to be a part of that continued growth for 2019 and look forward to getting on track and showing more of my potential.”
Lajoie, a native of Concord, N.C. has six wins in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and three wins in the ARCA Racing Series and three top-10s across NASCAR’s national series platforms.
Driving for BK Racing in 2017, Lajoie completed his rookie campaign highlighted by an 11th place finish at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July before switching to TriStar Motorsports in 2018 for a partial Cup crusade.
Lajoie will be reunited with Go Fas Racing crew chief Randy Cox for 2019. Cox guided Lajoie during his 32-race stint at BK Racing.
“The most success in my career has been behind the wheel of a Ford from the ARCA and K&N series so I’m ready to jump into that mean looking Ford Mustang this season,” added Lajoie. “Also, some of my best results in the Cup series have been with Randy (Cox) on the box. There couldn’t be a better guy to lead our team.”
Schluter Systems will leap with Lajoie to Go Fas joining partners CorvetteParts.net and Keen Parts who will return to the Mooresville, N.C. team as a sponsor for a seventh-straight season.
Additional partners for Lajoie will be announced at a later date.
Archie St. Hilaire says he’s happy to welcome Lajoie to the team and believes he’ll have the chance to showcase his ability.
“I’ve always liked Corey (Lajoie),” St. Hilaire told CATCHFENCE.com. “He is a true-blue collar racer. He’s built, fixed, work and drove his race cars in other series. You don’t hear that very often. I was asking myself recently why haven’t I picked this guy? … Now, he’ll be with us for a full season and we’re excited.
“Corey is a great fit (for us) with a family who has been around the business all of his life and he has roots connected to New England which also fits with us. Over the years, we have constantly been building our program and I think Corey will continue to elevate our program to that next level.”
Mason St. Hilaire echoed his fathers’ sentiments.
“Every year we feel like our program takes a step forward and securing Corey should help us continue to move that direction,” offered Mason St. Hilaire. “We’ve learned and grown a lot in our time in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and I believe our results reflect that growth.
“We’re very excited about the potential our team has this year. Every year we’ve been able to improve our program in different areas, and we fully believe that this coming season will be no different.
“Corey is a driver we’ve kept our eyes on for several years and he’s impressed and delivered when given the opportunity. We think he’s a great fit for our program and can’t wait to get this season underway.”
Archie St. Hilaire also explained he is exploring options to run a second Go Fas entry on a part-time basis in 2019 with drivers Joey Gase and 2017 ARCA champion Austin Theriault.
“I’m hoping we can find the right fit to run six to eight races in a second car with Joey and Austin,” he said. “Eventually, I’d like to have two full-time Cup chartered teams and maybe that’s a goal for 2020, but we’ll see what happens.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
