The expectations are increasing in significant ways at Spire Motorsports and Corey Lajoie says there are reasons to be optimistic about the season while also working to be prepared for the commitment needed to reach that level of performance.
He articulated that point during a Tuesday afternoon interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio with hosts Danielle Trotta and Larry McReynolds.
“I’m a realist and I’m skeptical about everything we’re trying to do with the team because I’ve seen it from the ground floor,” Lajoie said. “I have seen every hire, every fire and every bit of information we’ve acquired and I know the information we don’t have.
“I haven’t been to the shop much but every time I’ve gone there this winter, I see a new hire from Stewart-Haas, a new hire from Penske and not guys who were washing parts, but engineers and the guys who are setting underwings.
“I’m like ‘oh my goodness, we’re starting to look like a real race team. Especially at the test in December, we had Stephen Doran, who is crew chiefing with Zane and an engineer with Hendrick, plus Luke Lambert with Carson.”
Lajoie said he was last off the plane and saw 25 people in Spire gear and he remembers when that was the entirety of the organization. The ‘skepticism’ isn’t that he doesn’t believe Spire can achieve their goals but rather, he isn’t expecting it without the work.
The team has made all the right hires on paper but now comes the work.
“The drinking word this time is ‘excited’ and excited to get back to work or excited for this partner,” Lajoie said. “I’m actually on the other side. I’m not excited because I know the work it takes and how it consumes every minute of your thoughts and energy.
“It does create, that work-life imbalance you’re trying to get back in the off-season. It’s non-existent if you want to compete at the highest level.
“I’m not excited about that. I’m willing to do everything it takes but I’m not excited … and this is a two folded answer … but anyone who has done it will tell you the grind is real. You are fresh in January and February but I know the work it takes and how much it takes from you to be where we’ve been just to be a 20th place team and now we’re going to be a 12th to 16th place team and the next year, better than that.
“These are the tangible steps and it takes everything you got. I love doing it and there is nothing else I could ever see myself doing. Am I excited that come February 3, and the week prior to that, you are completely bought in. You are bought-in and there is nothing else that matters from February 4 to the first week of November. You have to be locked in as a race car driver and everything else gets locked down to the back seat.”
The alliance with Trackhouse
“It certainly won’t hurt. The (71) team is a Spire team. There are several people, driver, engineers, that’s on the Trackhouse payroll but it’s going to be set-up next to our cars. Crew chief offices are all together. That’s Doug Duchardt’s realm. Ryan Sparks realm. How they keep that key partner, not key partner line somewhat upheld, that’s above my pay grade.
“We have been operating as a one car team, essentially, for years. Now we’re going from a one car team’s worth of people to a really strong three car team so what we can add to our baseline to build dampers, raise our floor of competition, will happen a lot faster. We have some young drivers coming in that can get on the gas pedal pretty hard so I’m excited to see whatus three together to raise Spire Motorsports to the next level.”
On the passing of Cale Yarborough
“I could answer this so many different ways but the impact of Cale Yarborough … He is probably one of NASCAR’s six or seven greatest drivers but doesn’t get a lot of the press because he kind of did his own thing once he left the sport. I hate to see the Yarborough family lose Cale. The NASCAR family too. I think it’s two-fold: It shows the importance of keeping those guys close to us in the sport so we can see their legacy and to (allow) the new fans to get a peek into how badass Cale Yarborough was or a David Pearson, the guys who built the sport and allowed guys like me to race in this sport and provide for my family.
“Quick story: One of my prized NASCAR memorabilia is a black-and-white picture of the 1979 Daytona 500 fight with the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough as well as the track worker who was trying to break it up. The track worker signed it because he was a neighbor of my grandfather and both Donnie and Bobby signed it. The last person I needed to sign it was Cale. So I talked to Kerry Tharp, probably a year ago or more, said I really wanted to get it. I wanted to write Cale a note thanking him for laying the groundwork to build the sport so I got to write him a cool note. I didn’t hear back but I did receive the picture with his John Hancock on it. That really, unfortunately for me, was my only interaction with Cale, from afar but a lot of adoration from me as a fellow race car driver.
“I read his book ‘They called me Cale,’ and it’s an unbelievable book if anyone wants to pick it up. I definitely recommend it to hear his story. Those guys are built different than we are now. Different generation.”
Not believing in New Year’s Resolutions
“It’s just another Monday. Here’s my thing. If you weren’t doing something you should have been doing on Sunday, don’t think you’ll wake up on Monday and just because it’s a new year that you’re going to take the bull by the horn.
“It’s a good distinction point, reflect on where you need to be better, spend more time with family, clean the diet up, but January 2 or July 5, if there is an area of my life that doesn’t meet my standard, I want to immediately change it.
“But if today is the day that encourages you to spend more time with family or diet, stick with it, and don’t be the guy that gets a gym membership for a week and a half and thinks they’re going to lose 30 pounds. That’s not how it works.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.