Corey LaJoie enters his car during qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at WWT Raceway. Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
David, meet Goliath.
To say that Corey LaJoie’s first visit to the Hendrick Motorsports campus was an eye-opener is a colossal understatement of the case.
LaJoie got the word on Tuesday that he was team owner Rick Hendrick’s choice to replace Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Chevrolet in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway after Elliott drew a one-race suspension for wrecking Denny Hamlin in Monday’s rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600.
What LaJoie found at Hendrick was a singular focus and an organization-wide dedication to the pursuit of perfection — and to winning races and championships.
LaJoie drives full-time for Spire Motorsports, which allowed LaJoie to advantage of the opportunity to drive for Hendrick on Sunday. After visiting the Hendrick shops, LaJoie sent a text to Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson.
“’I can’t believe Spire and Hendrick race in the same series,’” LaJoie wrote.
“We are closer to a good truck team, I think… If that’s what a Cup team is, the holy cow, we’ve got a long way to go. But it’s fun sometimes to carry that chip on your shoulder and try to be the ones that are beating the Goliaths.
“But it’s definitely a cool opportunity and a cool week this week to be one of the Goliaths, sitting in one (of their cars), so we’ll see how it goes.”
LaJoie also believes his one-week stint in a Hendrick car will have lasting value.
“Man, I’ve been here for three days, and my philosophy of how I approach a weekend and how I prepare and how I’m going to engage with my team at Spire going forward is going to change,” he said.
“I think I’m going to be able to come in there and just share and apply some of the things I’ve learned over the course of the week.”
Daytona 500 Champion Makes His Pitch At Busch Stadium
Throwing out the first pitch Tuesday night at Busch Stadium wasn’t a unique experience for Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., but it did give the Mississippi driver a chance to perform in front of the team he followed as a child.
“I grew up coming to Cardinals games when I was younger,” said Stenhouse, who also has done first-pitch honors at Fenway Park in Boston. “We would drive up to St. Louis, whether my dad would be racing around here that weekend. We would come up here, I remember, with some cousins and make a long weekend out of it — Cardinals games, watch Ozzie Smith play back in the day at the old stadium.
“It was really cool. It was really special to go out and do that. It wasn’t my best performance. I definitely threw a better strike at Fenway, but I guess you can’t throw all strikes.”
Stenhouse and his No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing team come to World Wide Technology Raceway riding a streak of seven straight races with finishes of 15th or better. After last year’s dismal 32nd-place finish at Gateway, Stenhouse is determined to do better this year.
“This weekend was the toughest weekend that we had last year,” he said. “The car — driving and speed — it just wasn’t what we needed it to be. So we’ve really focused a lot on getting the car right.
“I felt like we learned some stuff at Phoenix earlier in the year toward the end of the race that picked up the performance. So hopefully that will pay off when we get here this weekend. This place is just tough.”
Stenhouse qualified 12th in Saturday morning’s time trials.
NASCAR Cup Series
World Wide Technology Raceway – Madison, Illinois
Enjoy Illinois 300 – June 4, 2023
Sunday’s Starting Line Up
1. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 137.187 mph.
2. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 137.153 mph.
3. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 136.903 mph.
4. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 136.766 mph.
5. (19) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 136.360 mph.
6. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 136.339 mph.
7. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 136.240 mph.
8. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 135.993 mph.
9. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 135.788 mph.
10. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 135.530 mph.
11. (16) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
12. (47) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
13. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
14. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 0.000 mph.
15. (54) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
16. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
17. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
18. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
19. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 0.000 mph.
20. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 0.000 mph.
21. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 0.000 mph.
22. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
23. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
24. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 0.000 mph.
25. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 0.000 mph.
26. (7) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
27. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 0.000 mph.
28. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 0.000 mph.
29. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 0.000 mph.
30. (9) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
31. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
32. (42) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
33. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
34. (78) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
35. (15) Gray Gaulding(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.
36. (51) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 0.000 mph.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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