LaJoie to Make Sprint Cup Debut at NHMS
Grandson of NEAR Hall of Famer Seeking Additional Opportunities
LOUDON, NH — Richard Petty Motorsports development driver Corey LaJoie of Concord, NC will make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He will drive the No. 77 Fochler Veterans Law/Valor4Vets.com Ford for Randy Humphrey Racing in the Sylvania 300.
“They were kind of looking to invest in a young driver and I guess I was at the top of their list,” LaJoie said. “I definitely have a lot to learn in this deal. This is kind of like jumping in the deep end with both feet here.”
He did not have the benefit of testing ahead of the race, just practice since Friday. LaJoie admitted that he is not used to the feel of the radial tires, including the lateral load (compared to bias ply run in other series). LaJoie called wrestling the 900 horsepower car “a task in itself.”
“I kind of put all my chips in a pile here this weekend,” LaJoie said. “A lot of people were telling me not to do it just ’cause you don’t want to take a Cup car this that and the other. But at the end of the day, I don’t have anyone else knocking on my door, begging me to put me in a car. So I’m thankful for Randy Humphrey for doing that. I’m really looking forward to it.”
LaJoie expects “to stay out of trouble” and learn how the Cup cars drive.
“It’s been a good time so far,” LaJoie said. “I scuffed the fence a little bit so the guys, they’ve done a good job of fixing the thing so we’ll make a couple of good changes for the race and see what we can do.”
LaJoie ran six NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races at Loudon with a best finish of second in 2012.
“These guys that I’m racing with have 50 times the experience I do and I know that the owners don’t really particularly care about that,” LaJoie said. “But I’m just going to go out there and try to go the maximum capacity of the car and not go over it like I did yesterday in practice and keep it reigned back in and see what comes out of today.”
LaJoie was a member of the Next 9 class in 2011-12 that included Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Dylan Kwasniewski, Kyle Larson, and Darrell Wallace Jr. All of them have full-time rides in one of NASCAR’s national series. The initiative is now called NASCAR Next and highlights drivers in NASCAR’s regional touring series.
LaJoie is frustrated that he does not have a full-time ride. Despite being a development driver, his rides are sporadic without sponsorship, the lifeblood of motorsports. RPM fields the No. 43 WinField car full-time in the Nationwide Series for Dakoda Armstrong. LaJoie conceded that the team’s priority is replacing Stanley Black & Decker on the No. 9 Sprint Cup car.
“I really have no idea where that’s going to go,” LaJoie said. But those guys are working hard trying to find me something. … I’ve only raced three times this year and of the three times I had to get and beg for the ride all three times, so I know (the) Petty’s can’t invest too much monetary. But they’ve helped out with resources and pit crew and stuff like that so far. Hopefully they can get somebody paying the bills, so we can all go out there and have fun on the racetrack.”
Sunday is his fourth start this season across NASCAR’s three national series. LaJoie finished sixteenth in his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Kentucky in June. LaJoie has made two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts for Ricky Benton with a best finish of tenth at Bristol.
LaJoie believes his knowledge of race cars, which came from setting up his own cars in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, has helped him run well during infrequent appearances this season. LaJoie said the downside to running a limited schedule is getting adjusted to the car after being out for up to two months. There is additional pressure of making an impact on owners or potential sponsors as well.
”I’ve got to relearn everything I just learned and I’m not really even concentrating on trying to get the car dialed in,” LaJoie said. “…You’re so worried when you’re driving the thing ‘cause you don’t know when you’re racing again to push it a little bit harder. I’m always worried about wrecking the thing.”
“It’s tough nowadays ’cause you got guys like Kyle Busch and (Kevin) Harvick and you can go on down the list from guys who run ’em two, three times a weekend and those guys are just on point every lap,” LaJoie said. “…You definitely gotta maximize it ‘cause there’s only so many shots that you get and I’m grateful (for) the ones I have and hopefully somebody just wants to invest and they see the potential that I have.”
LaJoie last competed full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. He won five times in 2012, finishing second to Kyle Larson by 14 points. He made his debut in 2009 and struggled with an “old heavy Yates car” for the first year and a half. LaJoie said “it was game on” after the team build a new car.
“That definitely got me out there and people realizing what I can do in a race car and then we followed that up with a good year in the ARCA series too the next year.”
LaJoie has been working with several stars for advice ahead of his Sprint Cup debut.
“Jimmie Johnson helps me a lot,” LaJoie said. “Kyle Larson has been helping me a lot. Marcos Ambrose has been helping me a lot looking at throttle traces and stuff like that, so I definitely try to pull from everywhere I can.”
LaJoie said that Larson would go to him for advice in 2012. Now LaJoie is getting help from the Elk Grove, CA driver. “He’s the big time Cup phenom now,” Lajoie said. “He’s giving me tips on how to drive these things, so it’s funny how it all comes around. …He’s definitely had a, he’s been driving the hell out of that thing and I’m happy for him and I know that if I can get a good opportunity like he does I think I could race wheel to wheel with him every week, once I get a good feel for these cars and get a little more comfortable.”
LaJoie works for his father’s racing seat company, The Joie of Seating, during the week. He also stays in shape with mountain biking. He still contributes to NASCAR K&N Pro Series East teams. He worked with Cale Conley at New Hampshire in July. He is currently working on the setup and is listed as crew chief for the No. 43 car and rookie Brodie Kostecki .
“He’s a good kid and we’re just trying to get him squared away,” LaJoie said. “If something doesn’t fall off or break then he’s one to contend with.”
LaJoie won three of his five ARCA Racing Series races last year (Chicagoland, Pocono, and Kentucky).
“It was definitely cool to go out there and take the old car that we had and we fluffed her up and put a good Roush Yates motor in it and go run good,” LaJoie said. “It was fun racing with Chase (Elliott) again in that series. It’s awesome to see him running good in the Nationwide Series with JR Motorsports, but running with Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones and those guys in that series it was pretty cool. …. I should have won four at Kansas but I wrecked the leader. That was kind of dumb. But I learned from that. Hopefully I just keep building upon that every year. “
He compared racing for an independent part-time team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to the United Auto Racing Association (UARA) Late Model circuit at the beginning of his career. LaJoie said that he has had to work his way up from the bottom.
“Randy Humphrey wants to help me and invest in me,” LaJoie said. “I’m invested in him too, so hopefully we can make something good come out of this and take it one week at a time.”
“I learned a lot there racing against good guys,” LaJoie said. He had “an old, old car that wasn’t very good,” but he got a good ride for the Rockingham race. LaJoie won the first of three races at Rockingham.
LaJoie believes he will see improvement when he has a full-time ride. He will be able to provide better feedback to the team.
“My ideal situation would to be to run that 98 Biagi car full-time and run for a championship and then whatever part-time Cup stuff comes about whether it’s with Randy (Humphrey) or whoever would be great,” LaJoie said.
LaJoie believes he has additional opportunities for seat time before the end of the season. He said that Humphrey’s team is looking at entering the races at Kansas, Charlotte, Texas, and Homestead-Miami.
“They’re behind me 100 percent,” LaJoie said. “…but I usually don’t know where I’m racing till about the week before the race.”
LaJoie is also planning to drive the companion Nationwide races for Biagi-DenBeste Racing. “I’m really excited about that,” LaJoie said. “Those guys (Crew Chief) Jon Hanson and Andy May and all the guys that work over there, they have a good grip on those Nationwide cars so I’m ready to go for that.”
“I’m excited to run that 98 car a couple of more times,” LaJoie said. “…I have a lot of confidence in those guys over there so I think we’re going to get a couple of good runs over there and who knows what can happen next year.”
“I’m ready to go today,” LaJoie said. “I just like driving race cars man. That’s what I like doing.”
Corey comes from a racing family. His Grandfather Don LaJoie of Norwalk, CT won five championships at Danbury Fair Racearena and was the track’s winningest driver. His father Randy LaJoie won the 1981 Sportsman championship at Danbury before moving to success in the NASCAR North Tour. He became a two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion and operates The Joie of Seating today.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com