FANTASY NASCAR Racin

LaJoie is a third-generation racer whose father and grandfather are members of the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Before taking the steering wheel, himself, LaJoie spent his youth at race tracks throughout the country watching his father, two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Randy LaJoie win races, and ultimately capture back-to-back Xfinity Series championships in 1996 and 1997 for BACE Motorsports. LaJoie started his racing career in 1996, competing in kart racing events; winning 19 times on both dirt and asphalt tracks. He moved in 2003 to the INEX Bandolero series, scoring twelve wins and winning the series' Summer Shootout Championship. LaJoie began racing Legends cars in 2005, and in 2006 moved to the Aaron's Pro Challenge Series, where he won 10 of 12 races that year. Between 2007 and 2009, LaJoie competed in the UARA-Stars Late Model Touring Series; scoring one win and ten top-ten finishes in 17 starts in the series. In 2009, he made his debut in the NASCAR Camping World East Series at Thompson Speedway; LaJoie remained in the series through the 2012 season, scoring his first win in the series in June 2012 at Bowman Gray Stadium; He scored four additional wins over the course of the

season, finishing the year second in points. From 2010 to 2012 LaJoie ran a hand full of races in the Whelen Southern Modified Tour. His first start was at Atlanta where he started ninth and won the race. He also ran the ARCA Series full time in 2011 and 2012. He got his first win in 2012 at Winston-Salem. He added four more, but finished second in the points. LaJoie, who had been named to the 2012 NASCAR Next class of up-and-coming drivers, entered the 2013 season with only a limited schedule planned, including selected NASCAR Xfinity Series races for Tommy Baldwin Racing, however in June it was announced that he had signed with Richard Petty Motorsports as a development driver, with plans to run in the Xfinity Series

later that year. In addition, LaJoie ran a limited schedule in the ARCA Racing Series in the second half of 2013, winning his first start of the year, and second career start, at Chicagoland Speedway in July, and then in his next race at Pocono Raceway in August. In November 2013, it was announced that LaJoie would make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Homestead-Miami Speedway that month, driving the #9 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports with sponsorship from Victory Junction. He was involved in an accident during the race and finished 34th. In June 2014, LaJoie joined Biagi-DenBeste Racing to drive five races, starting at Kentucky. LaJoie struggled in the first race and finished 17th. His second race was at Bristol and he

brought home a nice 10th place finish. He didn't run any more Truck series races until 2023. It was for Spire Motorsports, to get some extra seat time. In September 2014, LaJoie made his Cup Series debut in the Sylvania 300 at Loudon, racing for Randy Humphrey Racing. He encounter problems and ended up 41st. At Charlotte he completed the race still running, although five laps down. LaJoie returned to NASCAR in 2016, driving the #24 Toyota Camry for JGL Racing in the Xfinity Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He made ten starts that year, and had a best finish of sixth at Dover. He had one other Top 10, that coming at Bristol. In 2017, LaJoie returned to the Cup Series and signed with BK Racing, driving the #83 Camry part-time. Trying to make the 2017 Daytona 500 as an

Open team with BK Racing (no starting spot guaranteed), LaJoie was turning his first laps at Daytona International Speedway during the Can-Am Duels due to practice being rained out. Trailing Reed Sorenson, the only other Open driver, with under fifteen laps to go, LaJoie spun out Sorenson in the tri-oval, ensuring himself a spot in the 500 and making Paul Menard start at the back of the field as Menard was also involved in the crash and had to start in a backup car. After the race, LaJoie said that "I do feel bad" and that "if that was my mom, I'd probably spin her out to make the Daytona 500 too." Sorenson was incensed after the incident, calling the crash "moronic" and "pretty crappy" while saying that LaJoie could have hurt somebody with reckless driving. He went on to finish 24th in the 500. He made 32 of 36 starts and finished a season best of eleventh at Daytona in the Summer event. In 2018, LaJoie moved from BK Racing to TriStar Motorsports for a part-time schedule, splitting the #72 with Cole Whitt. LaJoie entered the 2018 season with high hopes in the Daytona 500, and qualified 32nd for the 500, but

unfortunately blew an engine on lap nine. He made his second start for the team at ISM Raceway in March, once again blowing an engine early in the race. In the Coca-Cola 600, LaJoie went as high as eighth but finished 26th. At year’s end, TriStar shut down, throwing LaJoie out of his part-time ride. LaJoie joined Go Fas Racing's #32 Ford in 2019. For the 2019 Daytona 500, Go Fas Racing made headlines by placing a picture of LaJoie's face on the #32 car as part of Old Spice's sponsorship. LaJoie finished 18th after blowing a right-front tire just 20 laps into the race. He scored two top tens during the year with a sixth at Daytona's Coke Zero Sugar 400 and seventh at Talladega's

1000Bulbs.com 500. He returned to the #32 for 2020 on a one-year contract extension. In the Daytona 500, LaJoie impacted an airborne Ryan Newman coming to the finish, denting LaJoie's windshield and knocking the wind out of him; LaJoie, who finished eighth, was ultimately uninjured while Newman was briefly hospitalized. On August 21, LaJoie announced that he will part ways with Go Fas Racing at the end of the 2020 season. The eighth place finish at Daytona was his season best, and the only one in the top 15. LaJoie moved to Spire Motorsports' #7 on a multi-year agreement beginning in 2021. He had another good run in

the Daytona 500, finishing ninth. His next best finish was 15th. LaJoie missed the FireKeepers Casino 400 due to COVID-19 protocols; LaJoie was close to a person testing positive for COVID-19 from his Stacking Pennies podcast studio while he was unvaccinated at the time. Spire Motorsports expanded to a two car team in 2021. Justin Haley drove the other car. On March 15, 2022, crew chief Ryan Sparks was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss during the 2022 Ruoff Mortgage 500 at Phoenix. At Atlanta, LaJoie led a career-best 19 laps and was on his way to claiming his first career win with two laps to go when Chase Elliott overtook him and blocked him on the high side, causing him to brush the wall and spin before colliding with Kurt Busch and finishing the race in

21st place. LaJoie and Spire made good strides in 2022. He started off finishing 14th in the Daytona 500; and by now had shown he could be a force on the super speedways. Atlanta had been reconfigured and raced like a super speedway. On their first trip there, LaJoie run well and finished fifth. At Talladega he was 14th again. The team also started to run better on other tracks. He was 15th at Las Vegas and Bristol. He finished 12th at Charlotte on the Roval and 14th at Texas. For the season he had seven finishes inside the Top 15 and 15 finishes in the Top

20. LaJoie started the 023 season with a 16th place finish at the 2023 Daytona 500. He showed huge improvement over the past season with more consistent top-20 and top-30 finishes. He was again strong at Atlanta, finishing fourth. He added another fourth at Talladega in the Fall. He added a top ten at Daytona in August. On May 30, LaJoie was announced as the substitute driver of the Hendrick Motorsports #9 at Gateway after Chase Elliott was suspended for one race for intentionally wrecking Denny

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

COREY DANIEL LAJOIE - 09/25/1991