Corey LaJoie Can Run Well at Darlington if He Stops Overdriving
3 months agoAlthough he was again drastically overshadowed by his teammate Carson Hocevar's second place qualifying run (the best in Spire Motorsports history), Corey LaJoie still qualified a decent 19th for this evening's Southern 500. Historically, this tended to be one of LaJoie's best tracks as his 15th-place finish in the 2021 Southern 500 was one of his best performances with a Spire team that wasn't as fast and he also finished 16th last spring. However, LaJoie has embarrassed himself repeatedly this season with high-profile crashes, probably because he's overdriving to compete with Hocevar and no longer using his more polished style from previous years. LaJoie can run well here if he doesn't overdrive, but he seems to continually think he needs to overdrive to prove himself. Until he returns to the smoother style he used in 2021-2023, expectations should remain low.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference