Spire Motorsports axed Corey LaJoie over “a gut feel”
Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson revealed the true reason behind sacking Corey LaJoie.
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Corey LaJoie (Via IMAGO)
Spire Motorsports has been trundling the rear of the NASCAR field in 2024. This led to the team taking a harsh step and deciding to offload its veteran driver Corey LaJoie ahead of the conclusion of the 2024 season. Subsequently, the team’s co-owner Jeff Dickerson revealed the thought process before sacking the North Carolinan.
Corey LaJoie joined Spire Motorsports in 2021 with great ambitions to catapult his racing career. After being the cornerstone of the team’s success, the 32-year-old signed a multi-year deal with the team. However, this contract extension did not mean anything eventually as SM decided to fire its star driver LaJoie as the team wanted to make major structural revamps.
Sometimes it’s just kind of a gut feel. Obviously, the team had been struggling and I had been agonizing over it for a couple months. You guys have been around, I call it struggling team syndrome where everything just gets analyzed to the nth degree.Jeff Dickerson said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
The team’s co-owner Jeff Dickerson later revealed the true reason behind sacking the 32-year-old. He elaborated that it was due to his gut feeling that he decided to fire the No.7 driver. Furthermore, he explained the root problem within the team which acted as a parasite and deprived them of results which forced him to take the bold call.
But it was really odd in a way because generally in these situations you have a crew chief that’s saying, ‘man, the driver’s not doing this.’ Or you have a driver that’s saying, ‘man, what’s my guy doing?’ And this wasn’t any of that. In some ways, that actually made it a lot more difficult because it’s like man, if it’s not this and it’s not that, then what the hell are we doing?Jeff Dickerson said
Spire Motorsports revealed the criteria for the new driver that would replace Corey LaJoie
While SM has a single charter for a full NASCAR season, and now has a vacancy available for the No.7 charter next year. This has led the team to start its hunt for a new driver as they would have to find someone to fill the void created by LaJoie’s departure.
Subsequently, Jefferson asserted that the team is not specifically looking for a younger driver. However, he reckoned he wanted a driver who had raw pace with racecraft and respected the racing community.
So, I don't wanna say anything here that's not — that the boat fell on Corey because I think he's gonna go somewhere else and probably kick ass and make me look like a total idiot. In respect of all that, just looking for something or somebody that can plug in, somebody's that's got a bit of a long runway, somebody I don't wanna say younger, but maybe somebody that stands on the gas, has respect of the racing community.Jeff Dickerson said
On the other hand, the 32-year-old currently has no plans for his future. He has scored a solitary top five finish this season and is one of the highest-ranked drivers among the backmarkers. However, he has an average finishing position of 22.727 in the races done so far and remains quite a way off from landing a seat anywhere else on the field for the coming season.
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Geetansh Pasricha
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