NASCAR racing demands the absolute best from the drivers; perhaps it’s the toughest motorsports series in terms of sheer size and races. This makes it an unforgiving sport where drivers are on the edge about their continued future competing at the highest level. Corey LaJoie, the former Spire Motorsports driver, is in a similar situation where he’s unsure about his continued run in the Cup Series.
LaJoie has had his fair share of opportunities at Spire. It can be said that he was supposed to be the lead driver, but he never lived up to those expectations. While streaks of top 10s and top 15s are good, he was nowhere near in terms of competing for race wins. The 2024 season further added to his misery, when Jeff Dickerson and other executives at Spire decided to move on from Corey LaJoie and roped in Justin Haley as their new driver for the No. 7 car.
For the last seven races of the season, LaJoie was shipped to Rick Ware Racing, whereas Haley made his way to Spire. It was a rare mid-season swap. Although Haley signed a new long-term deal with Spire, LaJoie’s future was up in the air. For the most part, many experts and pundits from the NASCAR community believed that his time at the Cup level was up. Moreover, without any confirmation on his ride, there were rumors that he would be forced to run in the Xfinity Series in 2025.
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Well, going by the latest developments, it feels like those rumors were baseless as LaJoie hinted at his potential comeback to Cup racing next year. “Spent the last week in a Corona commercial. Back to the grind. 68 days.” The former Spire Motorsports driver posted on Instagram. This update notched up the curiosity quotient among the NASCAR fans, and they started to make their assumptions regarding LaJoie’s team.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Corey LaJoie (@coreylajoie)
Guessing games for Corey LaJoie’s next team begins
Rick Ware Racing has two charters. They ran the No. 51 car for Justin Haley and Corey LaJoie in 2024, whereas the No. 15 car was shared by Kaz Grala, Cody Ware, and Riley Herbst. It is important to note that RWR has leased one of its charters to RFK Racing, so they have one full-time slot for next year. Now it is hard to decide if LaJoie and Cody Ware will share the ride or if either one of them will run the full schedule, but it seems like this fan knows the answer. “Worst kept secret since Preece going to RFK, pretty obvious he’ll be the (only) full-time RWR driver next year.”
Now, sponsorship backing is another important factor, alongside on-track performances, that dictates a driver’s future in NASCAR. We saw that with Riley Herbst as he was able to secure his ride at 23XI Racing thanks to the backing by Monster. Luckily, Spire has secured their base with Gainbridge and Optic Gaming for the #7 car for next year. Thus allowing LaJoie to keep hold of Celsius for next year, and while his on-track record isn’t impressive, the funding by sponsors is something he can work with. “Corey has Celsius and Schluter with him at the very minimum. He’s going to get a ride if he carries those sponsors with him.”
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If anything, LaJoie’s poor runs of performance became meme material, and fans wouldn’t leave an opportunity to troll him. With 5 DNFs and an average finish of 23.722, for some reason or the other, he would cause mayhem on the racetrack. He was unapologetic about wrecking Kyle Busch at Pocono and almost derailed Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin’s playoff runs at Watkins Glen. So there were plenty of reasons for fans to turn against him, but there was one exception. “I don’t know that Corey at RWR is a bad thing or a good thing, I think it’s just a thing. I hope he wins the 500 though just to get the haters out and make people mad. I would say he’s got a better shot of winning at least that race than his old car.”
Well, there’s another factor that could affect LaJoie’s ride for next year, and that is the ongoing tussle between NASCAR and 23XI/FRM Racing. The antitrust lawsuit could stretch the entirety of the 2025 season, thus potentially restricting RWR from making any bold moves or signings. “He’s going to be in an RWR car, the question is whether it’s a full-time car or shared with Cody. The answer to that question likely depends on charter implications depending on the 23XI/FRR lawsuit,” a Reddit user added.
Not everyone is excited by the prospect of Corey LaJoie returning to Cup racing next year. Apart from the single top 5 result at the Daytona 500 and two top 10s this year, LaJoie, for the most part, has been mediocre. Perhaps this is why this race fan replied, “It’s amazing how my opinion has changed about this guy over the course of a year. At the beginning of last year, I had really high hopes for him. I was even on the verge of buying his merchandise. Now I can’t stand him and wish he would go away.”
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The links to Rick Ware Racing do make sense, and they might just hand LaJoie a shot to script his comeback story. But, for the time being, it’s hard to say if he will ride a full season or limited races in 2025.