HAMPTON, Georgia. Kurt Busch came to congratulate Corey Lajoie after Sunday’s Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. So is Chase Briscoe.
While William Byron burned out at the forefront after the victory, Lajoie enjoyed his career-best fifth place.
“I think by all accounts we should consider this a win,” Lajoie told NBC Sports.
The talent of Corey, the son of two-time Xfinity champion Randy Lajoie, was not in doubt. It just didn’t present itself to him. Once a touted prospect, 30-year-old Lajoie saw a lack of sponsorship cut short his career while others continued to race and win.
He returned focusing on the Cup, but Lajoie played for underfunded teams. His first Daytona 500 in 2017 was with BK Racing and he was told that if he didn’t enter the race, the organization would probably have to close the #83 team.
He made the race and went on to compete in the series. With a new car that aims to bridge the gap between big and small teams, LaJoie and Spire Motorsports have made progress this season.
He crossed the line sixth at Atlanta, but earned a spot when NASCAR penalized Christopher Bell, who crossed the line second, for dropping below the touchline on the final lap to make a pass. NASCAR dropped Bell to 23rd, the last car on the lead lap.
Lajoie’s fifth place on Sunday was Spire Motorsports’ best result since Justin Haley won the rain-shortened July Daytona race in 2019. Lajoy has finished in the top 15 three times in five races, a feat he did not achieve in his previous 168 Cup starts.
He also did it without crew chief Ryan Sparks, officiating the first of four suspension races after a wheel came off the team’s car at Phoenix Raceway.
“I feel like we’ve been smart all year,” Lajoy told NBC Sports. “Except for the wheel coming off last week, I think we were in 18th to 22nd places and we took advantage of other people’s mistakes. As long as we keep minimizing our mistakes, who knows where we’ll end up. We control what we can control right now.”
Even with a new car, he had to race smart. He drove the same car at Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas, and Phoenix on consecutive weekends. He still managed to finish in the top 15 in Las Vegas.
Lajoie overcame an incident on Sunday that saw him skid on the infield grass in Atlanta to reach his first top-five finish in the Cup.
“You will never win any of these things by riding all day,” he said. “You have to engage and take a trail position and hold it almost in the first leg. Fifth for us, financially, points, we are already looking at points. I hit the fence at (Auto Club) and gave maybe 10 points (away) just because of a mistake I made. I was happy that I was able to score those 10 points (Sunday).”
As a result, Lajoie is 24th in the driver’s standings. He is four points behind Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and eight points ahead of Denny Hamlin, who is 26th in the standings.
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Tire problems for Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick when they ran in front of or next to him caused bewilderment among the participants and Goodyear..
Stenhouse wondered if running ahead was a factor for all three Chevrolet drivers.
“I don’t know if the difference in speed when entering a turn with a lot of air on a racing car was the cause,” he said. “Guys in the back don’t have much load because they are behind someone. I don’t know if bus overload killed it. In practice, we have not seen a lot of tire wear, so I think you do not wear them out.
Rudy Fugle, team leader of winner William Byron, said there might be something in Stenhouse’s mind.
“The speed and having to run quite wide to get ahead compared to 70 percent throttle for a full lap to be second or third definitely puts a lot more stress on the tires, so it kind of handles itself,” Fugle said.
“I was trying to teach William to do some climbs and if we could get up a bit and slow down a bit and not miss, then we could save the tires. Definitely on the repair always worried about the tires. You have hard tires because you have such a big load, but eventually you will heat them up and they will burst. Definitely in our minds.”
Tyler Reddick was among those who suffered tire problems and slipped as he ran ahead in Sunday’s Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing tire sales, said Sunday the company is looking into issues with the three vehicles.
“The busiest position on a production car is the right front, so it’s a bit unique that we see the right rear,” he said. “Different number of laps. Mostly longer runs. We didn’t see any sign of anything in practice when we had guys doing over 50 laps on the tires. This is a little unexpected.
“The only thing we know is that it’s all the same brand. Whether this is a factor or not, it seems to be more than a coincidence. What is consistent in the settings. That’s exactly what we’re going to find out.”
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After the success of Sunday’s race, which recorded 46 lead changes, the question arises: if Texas Motor Speedway becomes the next in the Speedway Motorsports family of tracks to be changed organize speedway racing at this track to rekindle fan interest.
Marcus Smith, president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, liked what he saw in Atlanta but is not ready to make changes in Texas based on Sunday’s race.
“I had ideas of what it could be,” Smith said of the Cup race after the Atlanta Motor Speedway was refurbished and rolled into corners.
“I wasn’t sure what we would get, but I think NASCAR and the teams have done a phenomenal job with the Next Gen car. It matched perfectly with the Next Gen Atlanta circuit, but we had fantastic races at the LA Coliseum this year and every race since. I think as racing fans we are all happy to be able to enjoy a really fun ride to start the season.”
As for Texas?
“I’m thrilled to get to Texas Motor Speedway and see this new Next Gen car race there,” said Smith. “When you look at the races we’ve done at Fontana and at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this year, you can tell that these were the best races I’ve ever seen at these circuits. With this new machine, different things work differently.”
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Total 31 cars crashed in Sunday’s super speedway-style race. in Atlanta.
For comparison, this year’s Daytona 500 involved 26 cars in accidents.