Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports
In his first extended comments since it was announced he would not return to the Spire Motorsports No. 7 next season, Corey Lajoie took to his Stacking Pennies podcast to address the range of emotions he has experienced over the past week.
“I had some realizations,” said LaJoie, who has driven for the team since 2020. “Everywhere that I’ve been has always been one-year deals, so this position that I find myself in currently isn’t uncomfortable. It’s not someplace I’ve never been before.
“You go through all the emotions, mad, sad … I think where I’m at currently a week removed is that I’m super appreciative. Super appreciative of Jeff [Dickerson, team co-owner] and T.J. [Puchyr, co-owner] and for Spire giving me the opportunity, for believing in me from the jump when we were trying to whiteboard this thing and what we’ve grown it to has been pretty cool.”
Lajoie was hired before the team expanded to the much larger building that once housed Kyle Busch Motorsports. This was also before the investment from Group1001. This decision was announced after the team hired championship winning crew chief Rodney Childers to oversee the No. 7 car next season.
It was a much smaller team with bigger ambitions and the 32-year-old took the team to four top-5s and six top-10s over 129 Cup starts with the organization. He also served as the team’s constant brand and identity over that period.
And while he overachieved in the car last year, he has greatly underachieved this year, leading the league in crashes and is performing well below rookie Carson Hocevar in the same equipment.
Lajoie is 28th in the standings with just one top-5 and top-10.
“I do hate that we weren’t able to see it through; we weren’t able to kind of adjust the 7 team and kind of turn the right knobs to get performance where we needed it,” LaJoie said. “Also, I made too many mistakes behind the wheel this year. There were several that took us out of contention for some good results.”
Lajoie still hopes to win in the 7 car while plotting his next steps.
“It’s onward and upward,” LaJoie said. “I don’t know what the next step is. It’s been a unique situation with all the variables that are in play, but nonetheless, I am at peace with it. I’m excited about what the next chapter holds, and I’m pretty motivated to still be the first one that puts a win banner on the wall at Spire and a trophy in the trophy case on the Cup side there and continue to finish this thing strong the last 14 races.”
And he will do so, guided by his faith.
“The thing that I’ve been kind of clinging on to the last week or so, and we can get into it, there’s just that Proverbs 16:9. It’s been pinned to my X profile for almost 10 years now. ‘The man can plan his path, but the Lord determines his steps.’ I don’t know what the next step is.”