Corey LaJoie has never won a race in any of his 310 career starts across NASCAR’s top three series. In fact, his best finish in any Cup Series, Xfinity Series, or Truck Series race is fourth place.
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Friday night at Talladega Superspeedway, while driving the No. 77 Spire Motorsports truck, the 34-year-old LaJoie was closing in on what had the potential to finally be the first win of his career. Unfortunately, as has been the case in every race he has entered, he once again came up short, finishing eighth in what will likely be his final race of the season.
LaJoie continues to look for a full-time ride in any of the three major series but expects to have at least a part-time Truck schedule in 2026. He will also continue hosting his popular podcast, Stacking Pennies with Corey LaJoie, and serve as a part-time announcer for Amazon Prime Video’s five NASCAR broadcasts next season.
“It was okay (performance-wise), we just didn’t have the pace we needed, couldn’t quite get to control the line,” LaJoie told Frontstretch.com of Friday’s race. “It was fun, fun leading a line and getting pushed. These trucks are a blast to drive on a speedway, kind of out of control. And with the turbulent air, these things move around a lot. It’s like swatting flies.
“There were a lot of Toyotas there at the end, teamed up and pretty committed to each other, and we just couldn’t quite get ahead of them and control a line and obviously all hell is going to break loose coming to the checkers.”
All hell did break loose, sending the scheduled 85-lap event around the 2.66-mile superspeedway into five overtime laps before Giovanni Ruggiero played the role of spoiler to all the drivers still in the Truck playoffs, earning his first career win.
That could have been LaJoie’s win, potentially, but it wasn’t. He and Spire teammate Rajah Caruth had to settle for eighth and ninth place, respectively.
Caruth was trying to get into position to push LaJoie forward, but something happened and he stayed behind his teammate until the checkered flag fell.
“I was wondering if he got a bad push or was trying to get a spot there at the end,” LaJoie said. “I felt if he would have stayed committed, we could have finished third and fourth, as opposed to eighth and (ninth). He got a bad push from the 15. I was low to him and he was low to me – and we just were a little short.”
Once Again, It Was Close But No Checkered Flag for LaJoie
Once again, Corey, son of former two-time Busch Series champ Randy LaJoie, missed his shot at a win.
“I’ve been thinking every week is my shot for nine years,” he said. “You get prepared and execute no different for that restart as the 5,000 you’ve had before. You just try to get the most of it, try to execute up through the gears and keep your gaps tight and keep side-drafting the guys you’re around and it either works out or it don’t.”
And for the 310th time, it didn’t work out. But there’s always the next time. Maybe that will finally be the one he’s been waiting for so long and so patiently.
