Corey LaJoie’s 2025 season started with a P4 finish at the Daytona 500, followed by a top 20 finish at Atlanta Speedway. It began to look like Spire Motorsports’s senior-most driver had finally turned a corner for good, but this good run didn’t last long. In the next eight Cup Series races, the driver of the No. 7 Chevy finished 21st or worse, and this is where his future at the team became a talking point.
LaJoie’s troubles and shortcomings throughout the 2024 season have been well documented, but there’s more to his story than meets the eye. Going by his latest confession on the Stacking Pennies podcast, he endured a tough time personally after his friend suffered a horrifying accident. And just when he was trying to focus and recover from anxiety and depression, he was shown the exit door by Spire Motorsports.
Corey LaJoie shares the real reason behind his on-track struggles in 2024
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In the grand scheme of things, Spire Motorsports was hoping that LaJoie would be the right fit to lead their racing program in the Cup Series. Before 2024, he had three full-time seasons with the No. 7 team and even served as Hendrick Motorsports reserve driver. In 2023, he made a Cup start in the No. 9 HMS Chevy, filling in for Chase Elliott, who was serving a one-race suspension. Although the 2024 campaign started on a good note for LaJoie, he had to deal with a near-death accident of his close friend in March.
And this is when he lost focus with his racing commitments. “So everybody watched on live television how awful my year was, right? Perpetuated probably a really close friend of you and I. Got in an accident, got paralyzed, and went down the What is life? rabbit hole, right? I’m stressing about this, and the guy who I try to emulate to be, had his life change in an instant, and now he’s paralyzed. But still, that guy has better perspective on life than I do.” Corey LaJoie shared this on the Stacking Pennie podcast.
The 33-year-old was sick and tired of all the outside noise that raised questions about his ability to lead a race team. This is when he decided to distance himself from social media and focus on getting back in rhythm and delivering the goods on the racetrack. Unfortunately, Spire Motorsports was already thinking ahead of the time and wanted Justin Haley to take the reins of their flagship team. In July, Spire worked out a mid-season swap deal with Rick Ware Racing, and LaJoie was taken back by this decision.
via Imago Spire Motorsports
“You know that’s all the sh-t you hear, and I was like, man, close the doors that need to be closed and open the doors that need to be open. Because right now I feel like I’m bogged down; I am depressed legitimately. I am anxious and stressed, and I’m not that person, and a couple of weeks later you get sat down and you get told you’re going in a different direction, and I’m like, dang that’s not the door that I wanted to get shut.” He added.
LaJoie did fight back with some solid performances with an entirely new team, new crew, and new environment in the No. 51 car. However, with team owner Rick Ware’s son Cody waiting in the ranks, many predicted that LaJoie could be out of a full-time ride in 2025. Guess what? That is exactly what happened, but little did anyone know that LaJoie was the one who advocated for Cody Ware to take on the full-time role.
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LaJoie didn’t want to create trouble for RWR
Ideally, RWR could have fielded a full-time ride for Corey LaJoie along with the support of his long-term sponsors. But RFK Racing leased one of the charters from RWR, and thus they were out of options. Interestingly, Rick Ware had all things planned out and ready for his son Cody to return to full-time racing. But he was hesitant in conveying this message to LaJoie. This was during the time when LaJoie was in talks with the Amazon team for the analyst role apart from his racing duties.
So, LaJoie decided to hit a pause on his full-time ambitions in the Cup Series while embarking on a new adventure with his broadcasting role. “This was like Phoenix week. I fly back, and I go sit down with Rick and Robbie, and I said, Rick, I know your head and your heart is wanting to give Cody an opportunity, and I want you to do that. I don’t want to stand in the way; I don’t want any animosity because I appreciate what you do. And you can still help me do what I want to.” LaJoie explained during the podcast.
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The 2025 NASCAR season will be the first where LaJoie won’t be a full-time driver. Rather, he will jump between multiple roles that are aimed at bringing him the joy and happiness he has been missing throughout his racing career.