Corey LaJoie Likely to Have One of His Best Runs of the Season... If He Can Keep It Clean
6 months agoCorey LaJoie has faced more criticism than any other NASCAR driver this year because he's been consistently outrun by his rookie teammate, Carson Hocevar, but that's more likely a result of fans underrating Hocevar than overrating LaJoie. LaJoie's performance has still been a lot closer to Hocevar's than Zane Smith's by nearly all metrics. LaJoie starts 21st for this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 and qualified faster than his teammates, but Hocevar starts 20th because he ranked better in a slower-qualifying group. LaJoie responded to his critics at Darlington with a 16th-place result in probably his smoothest drive of the season. Expect something similar at Charlotte, where LaJoie has a better average finish than on any non-drafting track he has visited ten or more times. With four top-20 finishes in his last six Charlotte starts, LaJoie is likely to score one of his best runs of the season tonight if he can keep it clean.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference