MOORESVILLE, N.C. — After having fun with 5 consecutive victory lane celebrations, Corey LaJoie goals to make it six straight when the checkered flag falls on Saturday evening’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Ga.
This one, nevertheless, can be the sweetest.
LaJoie comes into the 260-lap race across the 1.54-mile oval on the outskirts of Atlanta after a really profitable and universally praised efficiency as a race analyst throughout Prime Video’s five-week foray into broadcasting NASCAR Cup Collection races.
From the Coca-Cola 600 on Might 25 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway to The Nice American Getaway 400 final Sunday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, LaJoie and his Prime Video cohorts – host Danielle Trotta and fellow analysts Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Steve Letarte and Adam Alexander – highlighted backstories, spotlighted methods and reveled in groups’ triumphs.
After 10 years of analyzing Cup Collection races from the windshield of a race automobile, LaJoie considered races via the lens of reside tv. It supplied a perspective that has made the 33-year-old a greater racecar driver, regardless of eight races having handed since his final Cup Collection begin April 13 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
“Driving the racecar generally is a actually lonely place. You could have all this weight of expectations to ship on your staff and your sponsors and your self and your followers, and whenever you really feel such as you’re not doing that, it appears like all people is you,” LaJoie mentioned. “However what I spotted these final 5 weeks throughout my time on Prime, I’m intently watching the race, however I’m actually solely targeted on three guys’ races. The opposite guys who’re there grinding away, until they someway issue into the principle storylines of the race, they’re not high of thoughts.
“Earlier than this chance to see the race from a TV perspective, I might really feel like if I wasn’t working nicely, then I used to be letting lots of people down. I believe that I cared an excessive amount of, and I might maintain the result too tightly, versus simply having fun with it once I was doing it.”
Like a batter who had been urgent on the plate earlier than lastly incomes successful, the liberty to swing away is liberating LaJoie.
“Now that I’m again within the seat, I’m going to get pleasure from it,” LaJoie mentioned. “I actually just like the ambiance at Rick Ware Racing, and now we’re going again to a spot the place I’ve been near successful earlier than. It’s a terrific alternative for me to run nicely and have some enjoyable.”
LaJoie, driver of the No. 01 Schluter-Methods Ford Mustang Darkish Horse, almost received at Atlanta in July 2022. He led 19 laps and lined up second for the green-white-checkered sprint to the end.
“We led the ultimate restart of the day, after which Chase Elliott received an enormous push, received to the lead, and I ought to’ve labored a bit tougher to dam that run for the lead,” LaJoie mentioned. “I believed I made the precise transfer on the final lap to get to his right-rear quarter, however he simply threw his block a bit later, and he threw the block to win, proper? It didn’t work for me and the assistance didn’t go my manner, however that was fairly near profession victory No. 1.
“However that’s why I maintain exhibiting up, particularly right here at Atlanta. I really feel that we are able to discover ourselves in the identical spot.”
EchoPark Speedway options the form of pack-style racing seen on the behemoth, 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) Worldwide Speedway and the even greater 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. But the observe is a mile shorter in size, making every race a frenzied affair.
“Atlanta is sort of a speedway on steroids. Issues occur so rapidly, and you may get your self into a foul spot,” LaJoie mentioned.
LaJoie returns to EchoPark Speedway with an ally in his Rick Ware Racing teammate, Cody Ware.
“It’s at all times good to have a teammate on the market on the racetrack,” mentioned Ware, driver of the No. 51 Jacob Building Ford Mustang Darkish Horse. “Corey is an excellent superspeedway racer. He’s somebody you possibly can lean on and work with earlier than the race even begins, and that alone is a bonus.”
LaJoie nonetheless has the texture of a racecar regardless of final racing a Cup automobile at Bristol.
“I’ve pushed some modified races and I ran a Truck only a few weeks again at Michigan,” mentioned LaJoie, who almost received the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Collection race June 7 at Michigan Int’l Speedway, as he was main seven laps in need of the end.
“So, I’m going to drive that Schluter-Methods Ford Mustang as quick because it’ll go. It’s only a matter of executing the day and placing ourselves in good observe place, and we did that nicely on the first Atlanta race this 12 months.
“We drove into the top-15 and we received crashed, however that’s proper in regards to the level the place you can begin to maneuver and get a sniff of unpolluted air. Something exterior the top-15 is admittedly turbulent and onerous to make features, so we wish to have a automobile that has the tempo to have the ability to do this.”
It comes from a perspective that’s now two-fold – from the motive force’s seat and the analyst’s chair.
“Previous to my time with Prime, all I’ve ever identified was driving racecars or working towards attempting to drive racecars, so going to the racetrack with a unique mission was initially uncomfortable, however during the last 5 weeks, I actually received settled in and it was actually enjoyable to have that perspective on the game,” LaJoie mentioned.
“Working with Stevie and Dale and Carl and Danielle and Double-A (Adam Alexander) – all of them answered any dumb questions I had, and all people from the Prime aspect form of gave me the instruments to determine the way to grow to be good at it.
“I didn’t know what to anticipate, however I knew that it was going to be enjoyable.”
