LaJoie Saves Best For Last At Langley For Second K&N Win

Corey LaJoie celebrates in victory lane at Langley Speedway following his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win Saturday. Photo by Jason Smith/Pixelcrisp for NASCAR

It took Corey LaJoie 24 starts to get his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory. It took only two more races to get No. 2.

The 21-year-old from Concord, NC, became the first repeat winner of the season with a victory in the Visit Hampton VA 175 at Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA on Saturday.

“I just needed to roll the bottom like I did all night,” said LaJoie after the race as he walked with the night’s trophy. “Our car was really good on the bottom. It got a little tight toward the end. I was able to get a good jump on the restart, roll the bottom and bring home this bad boy right here.”

It wasn’t without a fight from Brett Moffitt, who led a race-high 115 laps only to settle for second when LaJoie made a late charge. The two swapped the lead four times officially but waged a side-by-side battle throughout the night and traded the lead back and forth over the course of a single lap numerous times on the .4-mile oval. LaJoie took the lead for the final time on lap 165 and held on in a late-race restart to score his second career series win.

“Early in the race, it don’t pay nothing to win halfway, so I was going to fall back wherever I fell and set my own pace,” LaJoie said. “Toward the end there, he got tight and started burning his tires off and I was able to take advantage of it.”

It was a much different win than LaJoie’s dominant performance in his first career victory June 2 at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., where he led 118 of 152 laps. LaJoie finished with 40 laps led at Langley.

“It’s awesome – especially when you get that first one, you want to get that second one so bad,” said LaJoie. “And now I want to get that third one so bad because we’re in the championship hunt. I’ve been telling a lot of people all year we’re going to win the championship and so far I’m backing up my words.”

“We led a lot of laps – got a bonus point for that – but we just weren’t strong enough at the end,” Moffitt said. “It’s a lot of fun when we go to these short tracks because you never know what’s going to happen. It was great short track racing and hopefully the fans enjoyed it.”

Chase Elliott, who earlier in the day set a pair of records in winning the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Light, rebounded from an early race spin to finish third.

The result allowed LaJoie to move within one point of Elliott for the series lead after seven of 14 races.

In qualifying, Elliott’s time eclipsed the track record set by Coleman Pressley of 16.439 (86.721). At 16 years, 6 months, 26 days, he broke the record of 16 years, 8 months, 10 days for youngest pole winner set by Brett Moffitt in 2009.

Elliott led the first 20 laps but fell back after losing the lead to Moffitt. He spun after contact with Darrell Wallace on lap 56 and had to work his way back up through the field.

“I think we had a better car than where we ended, but circumstances – short-track racing – ended up getting us behind a little bit there,” said Elliott. “I really had to wear the tires out to catch back up. It’s unfortunate we got caught up in that mess, but that’s racing and we’ll just have to move on.”

Brandon Gdovic, 20, from nearby Yorktown, VA, was fourth, followed by Sergio Pena. Pena won the inaugural event at Langley in 2011.

Rev Racing rookies Bryan Ortiz and Kyle Larson finished sixth and seventh, respectively, while teammate Jorge Arteaga was 10th. Travis Pastrana was eighth, followed Eddie MacDonald.

Larson is third in points – eight behind Elliott – and Moffitt is two points further back. Gdovic rounds out the top five in points.

The Visit Hampton VA 175 will be televised on SPEED at 3 p.m. ET on June 28.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East returns to action Saturday, July 14 at CNB Bank Raceway Park in Clearfield, PA, with the Samuel 150.

NASCAR K&N Pro East Series
Langley Speedway – Hampton, VA
Visit Hampton VA 175  – June 23, 2012

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