DRIVER Q&A
Q&A with
COREY
LAJOIE
‘I CAN BE A RACEWINNING DRIVER’ BY JARED TURNER
T
he son of a two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series cham-
pion, Corey LaJoie has had racing in his blood from birth. But unlike his father, Randy, who won 15 times in NASCAR’s upper levels, Corey LaJoie has yet to go to Victory Lane in a national series race. He came painfully close in July, though, battling Chase Elliott for the win on the final lap of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway before getting squeezed into the wall by the 2020 Cup Series champion. Despite the disappointing outcome, LaJoie showed the NASCAR world that he can contend for race wins when he’s equipped with a competitive car. In a wide-ranging interview with NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, LaJoie discussed life growing up in a well-known racer’s family, his near victory at Atlanta, his best buddies in the sport and much more.
WHAT MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE OF YOUR DAD’S TIME IN NASCAR? I’ve got a lot of memories from those times. We would load up every year and after school was out (for summer), we would jump in the motorhome and for two-and-a-half straight months, we’d go to St. Louis (World Wide Technology Raceway), we’d go to Niagara Falls when dad was racing Watkins Glen, we’d go all over. So a lot of my best childhood memories were following dad around the circuit. ANY PARTICULAR RACES STAND OUT? For me growing up as a kid watching my dad, the results didn’t change anything. We were just excited to see dad come home or be at the race track playing with all our other kid buddies. You didn’t really care win, lose or draw where your dad finished. WAS WATCHING YOUR DAD RACE WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PURSUE THIS CAREER? There was a moment when I was probably 5 or 6 (years old) in the garage after a Darlington race, and I remember seeing all the cars sandblasted and smelling the rubber and fuel, and that was when I got bit by the bug and realized that it was pretty cool. I didn’t really put all my eggs into that basket until I was 16 or 17 years old and really committed, as opposed to trying to chase baseball or whatever sport through high school. That’s when I really leaned in to try to make it as a race car driver.
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POLE POSITION 2022
HAVE YOU REPLAYED THE LAST LAP OF THE JULY ATLANTA RACE IN YOUR HEAD? ANYTHING YOU WOULD’VE DONE DIFFERENTLY? I’ve replayed it, but I don’t lose any sleep over it. I’ve replayed it enough that I would do something different next time around. It just comes from having more opportunities to race for a win when you race against those guys that do it every week. Those guys know where to position themselves at the right moments to get a win. WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME? It’s all situational, man. You’ve gotta take the runs when you can get them, you’ve got to get back to the lead as soon as you can get back to the lead to put yourself in a defensive position, especially at a superspeedway. DO YOU HAVE FRIENDS IN THE GARAGE? I’m buddies with Joey (Logano) and Bubba (Wallace), but beyond that, the only person you really hang with no matter who you are or what your profession is, is who your lady likes to hang out with. Luckily, my wife and Joey’s wife get along. Probably my best friend is Ryan Flores, who does a podcast (“Stacking Pennies”) with me. He changes tires for Ryan Blaney. Beyond that, my 2-year-old and my 2-month-old are occupying a lot of my time right now, so I don’t get to hang out with a lot of other people. PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES