Getty Corey LaJoie has made a bold statement about 2022.
Spire Motorsports driver Corey LaJoie has just put the NASCAR Cup Series on notice. He has confirmed that he is coming to collect during the 2022 season after years of stacking pennies.
LaJoie made the statement on Twitter as the end of the year approached. “A thought keeps crossing my mind about the last couple years,” he tweeted on December 31. “We’ve been stacking, grinding and paying the dues for a while…….in 2022 we’re collecting.”
This tweet was not the only way in which LaJoie made strong comments about his 2022 season. He also responded to a question from Built Bar, one of his partners, and said that he is taking his Built Bar to the front.
LaJoie Turned Heads During the 2021 Season
GettyCorey LaJoie (bottom) finished ninth in the Daytona 500.
While LaJoie drove for a smaller team with less funding in 2021, he turned heads with some strong performances. One particular two-week run featured him racing in the top-10 at very different tracks.
LaJoie showcased speed during the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the final race of the regular season. He started 33rd overall in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet but raced his way to seventh by the end of Stage 1. He fell back toward the middle of the pack in Stage 2, but he jumped back into the top-10 near the end of the race.
LaJoie led a lap during the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and appeared to be within reach of his first career win. However, a wreck collected him and several other drivers, resulting in a 16th-place finish.
One week later, LaJoie competed in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He started 25th based on his finishing position from the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and he added more points to his total in Stage 2. Once again, LaJoie ran in the top 10 during the final stage, but an ill-timed caution resulted in a 15th-place finish.
While LaJoie didn’t finish in the top 10 during the trips to Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway, he kicked off a season with a top-10 finish. He qualified 16th for the Daytona 500 and then avoided five separate incidents en route to a ninth-place finish.
LaJoie Enters His Second Season With Spire Motorsports
A veteran with 164 Cup Series starts in his career, LaJoie is about to enter his second full-time season with Spire Motorsports after previously driving for Go Fas Racing, TriStar Motorsports, and BK Racing.
LaJoie announced after the 2020 season that he had joined forces with Spire Motorsports, a team that had purchased assets from Leavine Family Racing. According to Kelly Crandall of Racer, his deal was for multiple years.
“Corey LaJoie is a talented young driver and has proven that he wants to get better every time he sits in the race car,” said TJ Puchyr, co-owner of Spire Motorsports, in a statement on November 30, 2020. “He wants to better himself and is willing to go to great lengths to make it happen.
“That’s the same philosophy Jeff [Dickerson] and I subscribe to in all of our business ventures. He fits very well with our group and will obviously play a critical role in the success of our team as we continue to grow and develop. We’re going to build this together and Corey will be the anchor.”
LaJoie and Spire Motorsports made strides during the first season together, and now they will embrace the future while moving to the Next Gen stock car. LaJoie has made it clear that this second season will be the one in which he collects after previously paying his dues.
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