Corey LaJoie Benefiting from Increased Factory Backing
6 months agoWith Chevrolet investing substantially more into Spire Motorsports than it has in previous years, the Spire cars were immediately faster than usual in practice and qualifying this weekend at Las Vegas with Carson Hocevar ranking 13th-fastest and Corey LaJoie ranking 15th-fastest in practice. LaJoie did out-qualify Hocevar by .038 seconds but will be starting worse because Hocevar faced less competition in his qualifying group. Although many fans and critics have written LaJoie off as a bust because of his mediocre Gateway run last year, he has always rated highly in my stock car teammate model, where he is currently just about tied with Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain. Hocevar is rated higher in my model, but now that Spire has faster cars, expect both drivers to exceed expectations both at Las Vegas and in the 2024 season in general.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference