Has Corey LaJoie Lost a Step?

He never had a step. Reddit and the internet’s latest love fad that will most likely join the DiBurrito(whatever that is) on the scrap heap. I wanted him to do well today and was excited to see him get an opportunity, much like I am to see guys get an opportunity in top equipment. I always like seeing new talent thrive, but hopefully this slows the hype train a bit
 
I figured from the first it was north easterners driving the ship. He never has made a ripple as far as I am concerned and only gets his name called when he hits something most of the time. His place is lower mid pack. He does decent there.
 
La Joie needs to stay out under caution and then on the restart deploy this.
His only hope.

LaJoie car.jpg
 
I figured from the first it was north easterners driving the ship. He never has made a ripple as far as I am concerned and only gets his name called when he hits something most of the time. His place is lower mid pack. He does decent there.
I wasn't paying much attention to the broadcast but appears he ran no better in a "good car" than in his usual. I put the quotes in because I see some saying the 25th-3? are junk. All the cars are the same now. Only difference is the people preparing them & the driver.

Was the #9 that bad today or was it the driver?
 
Josh Berry ran 2 races for Spire in 2021. He finished 30th and 26th.

In his first event as Elliott’s #9 replacement driver at Las Vegas, he finished 29th - 2 laps down. His average finish after 8 races in HMS cars is 18.9 … but he’s “earned” a Cup ride.

1685931017021.png
 
Josh Berry ran 2 races for Spire in 2021. He finished 30th and 26th.

In his first event as Elliott’s #9 replacement driver at Las Vegas, he finished 29th - 2 laps down. His average finish after 8 races in HMS cars is 18.9 … but he’s “earned” a Cup ride.

View attachment 71010
He had never sat in a cup car before that Vegas race, and it’s not as similar of a vehicle as it used to be. Corey runs a NextGen car of the same manufacturer every week, that he claims is bottom of the barrel equipment, and runs better in it half the time than he ran today. Then you have Carson Hocevar who has never started a cup race come in and outrun him the first half of the race in that “bad” equipment. It doesn’t look good on him. I think he spent all weekend overdriving the car trying to be a hero and making mistakes. Even in practice and qualifying.
 
I agree that he over-drove the car.

Death grip on the wheel and lots of shoulder and arm tension. Trying too hard to impress. Maybe Elliott will foul someone else and LaJoie will get another shot. 😇
 
Not really fair to make this a test of his capabilities, but that’s life in the sport. A big learning curve in a very short time. Still, he didn’t move the needle much given the better results HMS drivers achieved, after also qualifying further back than normal.
 
Not everyone can be or needs to be in a great car. Corey hasn’t shown that by any stretch of the imagination. I do think he does a relatively good job with Spire.
 
Not everyone can be or needs to be in a great car. Corey hasn’t shown that by any stretch of the imagination. I do think he does a relatively good job with Spire.

Yeah JJ Yeley is about the same. Does exceptional in terrible cars, but when he’s in great equipment he’s mediocre at best.
 
I wasn't paying much attention to the broadcast but appears he ran no better in a "good car" than in his usual. I put the quotes in because I see some saying the 25th-3? are junk. All the cars are the same now. Only difference is the people preparing them & the driver.

Was the #9 that bad today or was it the driver?
The 9 wasn't that great and they lost communications on top of it from the war wagon and the throttle data etc. My opinion was based before he got to the 9 car. I thought he would do better in the 9 car. He walled it in practice to start off with. :idunno:
 
He tried to hero the car and overdrove it. But the 9 is one of if not the weakest HMS car this season. Alan just doesn't seem to have the next gen car figured out near as well as his peers at HMS. Cliff and Kyle are flat running circles around Alan and Chase. Crazy how they went from winningest team last year to suddenly falling off a cliff just after halfway in the season and never regaining a foothold, despite their teammates being class of the field so far this year. I really wonder if it was one of those deals where whatever they had last year that had Chase hot was found by NASCAR and HMS was quietly told "don't bring that back or else."
 
It sure is a bit disappointing that Corey (at age 31) couldn't make more of this opportunity but it's definitely too early to call him a bust just because of one bad race.
He ran around 25th for most of the race which is worse than some of his races for Spire. He worked with people he's never worked with before this weekend and didn't have a lot of time to get accustomed to HMS.
Berry also did fairly poor in his first race in the 9 at Vegas.
Corey surely has a place in the Cup Series and hopefully he'll get another shot with a top-tier team someday.
If Almirola retires at the end of the season my money would be on Smith though.
 
He tried to hero the car and overdrove it. But the 9 is one of if not the weakest HMS car this season. Alan just doesn't seem to have the next gen car figured out near as well as his peers at HMS. Cliff and Kyle are flat running circles around Alan and Chase. Crazy how they went from winningest team last year to suddenly falling off a cliff just after halfway in the season and never regaining a foothold, despite their teammates being class of the field so far this year. I really wonder if it was one of those deals where whatever they had last year that had Chase hot was found by NASCAR and HMS was quietly told "don't bring that back or else."

I would believe it’s because their marque driver has missed what half the races this season? The 9 car was a lemon and I think that has more to do with why Corey struggled than him just sucking. Berry wasn’t 100% sure what he was looking for in this nextgen and hasn’t been able to relay the needed info to be better. Corey not being in a quality ride before wasn’t much better im sure


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I would believe it’s because their marque driver has missed what half the races this season? The 9 car was a lemon and I think that has more to do with why Corey struggled than him just sucking. Berry wasn’t 100% sure what he was looking for in this nextgen and hasn’t been able to relay the needed info to be better. Corey not being in a quality ride before wasn’t much better im sure


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah I think this is more to do with it than anything. They were really good at California, finished 2nd, then spent the next 6 weeks getting feedback and notes from a fill in and it's just been catch up since then.
 
He tried to hero the car and overdrove it. But the 9 is one of if not the weakest HMS car this season. Alan just doesn't seem to have the next gen car figured out near as well as his peers at HMS. Cliff and Kyle are flat running circles around Alan and Chase. Crazy how they went from winningest team last year to suddenly falling off a cliff just after halfway in the season and never regaining a foothold, despite their teammates being class of the field so far this year. I really wonder if it was one of those deals where whatever they had last year that had Chase hot was found by NASCAR and HMS was quietly told "don't bring that back or else."

Point by point:

I think the #5 car is the flagship operation at Hendrick, same way Denny Hamlin is at JGR. The #5 is Hendrick's baby, and "The Felon" (which seems to be his nickname for some stupid reason) is putting up the money out of pocket for Larson - so he has a vested interested in seeing that car run up front. But I think the #9 is right up there too. I'd actually argue that the #48 car is the worst of the Hendrick teams right now.

Kyle Larson and William Byron are better drivers than Chase Elliott, IMO. If I were to create a chart with A tier, B tier, C tier, and etc., Elliott would probably be in the B-tier (next to Reddick?🤭) while Larson and Byron would be in the A-tier. Where Elliott has an advantage is his consistency, which is something Kyle Larson seriously lacks, and Alan Gustafson being a much better crew chief than he gets credit for on here. From everything I've read from Elliott fans this year, Elliott is not communicating what he needs as well this year as he has in the past.

There's something off with Elliott this year and it's not the team.

As for Corey Lajoie, I've always thought he was a bit overrated because of his popularity with the Reddit/Twitter crowd that also thought Matt DiBenedetto was it. He's good, don't get me wrong, but he ran right about where I expected.

Josh Berry had time to acclimate to the team and had a good bit of success. Corey Lajoie was there for a one-and-done stint. Drivers very rarely go out and light the world on fire when filling in for one race. Josh Berry had several races in the 9.

Lajoie is good enough to win a few races at this level. So was DiBenedetto. That's about it.
 
Cory Lajoie is and always will be, a field filler, nothing more nothing less.
Yep, Hendrick needed someone in a hurry to replace crash cargo and they were able to get Lajoie. There aren't many drivers they could choose from that could get loose, drop everything, and drive the 9 car. A team that continues to get further behind the 8 ball every week.
 
Corey runs a NextGen car of the same manufacturer every week, that he claims is bottom of the barrel equipment, and runs better in it half the time than he ran today. Then you have Carson Hocevar who has never started a cup race come in and outrun him the first half of the race in that “bad” equipment.
This, with hush puppies, cole slaw, and baked beans. This refutes the position that Corey didn't have time to get comfy in the #9 as a one-race emergency backup.
 
Cory Lajoie is and always will be, a field filler, nothing more nothing less.
Agreed. But as a fan of his I would like to see him get a chance in a little bit better of a ride for a season or two and maybe get a win if everything aligns on a random Sunday.

I’m under no delusions he’s some hidden talent that just hasn’t been given a chance and if given a chance would be a contender.
 
Me thinks Cory does an excellent job of promoting himself and that works if you buy into the story. I like the guy, but when you have been driving as long as he has and you seldom if ever see him carrying the car to better finishes than the car deserves, it's time to start giving him the fish eye. He's back in the 7 this week and he had better shut his yap and be grateful he has that car to drive in cup IMO. Hello jobless next year Hocevar ya know what I mean?
 
If we wrote people off like y’all seem to like to do, Joey wouldn’t be in a good ride, after actually being in a great ride, and not doing anything with it. Ross wouldn’t be in a good ride, many others as well. Hell look how long it took Chase to win. It takes all the right pieces to fall into place. Right team, right Crew Chief, etc.
 
Me thinks Cory does an excellent job of promoting himself and that works if you buy into the story. I like the guy, but when you have been driving as long as he has and you seldom if ever see him carrying the car to better finishes than the car deserves, it's time to start giving him the fish eye. He's back in the 7 this week and he had better shut his yap and be grateful he has that car to drive in cup IMO. Hello jobless next year Hocevar ya know what I mean?

When LaJoie was in K&N with Larson and Elliott, he was up there competing with them so there is merit to the thought that he has talent that is being held back by his equipment.

I think he’s a fringe Chase contender and in the right equipment might win a race per year but it’s hard to tell. Some guys need time to adjust. Alex Bowman didn’t set the world on fire in his first start filling in for Dale Jr. and look at how that turned out.
 
When LaJoie was in K&N with Larson and Elliott, he was up there competing with them so there is merit to the thought that he has talent that is being held back by his equipment.

I think he’s a fringe Chase contender and in the right equipment might win a race per year but it’s hard to tell. Some guys need time to adjust. Alex Bowman didn’t set the world on fire in his first start filling in for Dale Jr. and look at how that turned out.
Another great example I didn’t think of. If up to alot of people here. Bowman wouldn’t be in the 48 right now since like you said. he didn’t do much start in Jr’s car.
 
I wouldn’t mind seeing Corey Lajoie in the 21 WBR car and Harrison Burton in Xfinity or the 7 car or a bit of movement.

Kinda surprised with the 16 struggling bad as well.
 
Back
Top Bottom