Corey LaJoie, a long-time competitor in NASCAR’s National Series, is set to reunite with Spire Motorsports for a nine-race campaign in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The Concord, North Carolina-native will begin his second tenure with Spire Motorsports in Saturday’s DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway, piloting the No. 07 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado.
LaJoie will then return to the driver’s seat of the No. 07 Chevrolet Silverado at Richmond Raceway on August 15, before taking over the truck completely for the final seven events of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series campaign.
The final seven races of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series campaign will include stops at Darlington (August 30), Bristol (September 11), New Hampshire (September 20), Charlotte’s ROVAL (October 3), Talladega (October 17), Martinsville (October 24), and Phoenix (October 31).
“I’m looking forward to getting back in the seat and chasing some NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins,” said LaJoie. “I put in a lot of work in the early days to help shape Spire Motorsports, and I still have some friends who have been there since day one, so it’ll be good to see them.”
The No. 07 Chevrolet Silverado RST is one of two entries this season at Spire Motorsports that have featured a rotating cast of drivers, including William Byron, Kyle Larson, Nick Sanchez, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch, and Justin Haley.
Earlier in the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the entry secured a victory with Kyle Larson behind the wheel. While the victory didn’t qualify the team for the Owner’s Playoffs, it gave the team confidence that securing a victory was possible.
“The No. 07 team has been bringing some fast trucks to the track this year and are looking for a spot in the owner’s playoffs. It’ll be nice to have some consistency with the team to get acclimated to these vehicles, chase some wins, and hopefully, a CRAFTSMAN Truck Series owner’s championship.”
LaJoie brings a bunch of experience (back) to Spire Motorsports, with 275 starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, which includes four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, though, LaJoie has only made five career starts, scoring his sole top-10 result at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2014 driving for Ricky Benton Racing.
“While discussing our best path to bring Spire our first CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship and describing what we needed in a driver, the driver we were all talking about without saying his name was Corey LaJoie,” explained Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “So, when I ran into Corey in the motorhome lot one morning earlier this spring, I asked him what he thought about coming home and doing this. He is synonymous with what we’ve built here over the last few years and deserves this opportunity. I’m looking forward to getting him in the truck at Michigan to work out some kinks and start getting a game plan together for the playoffs.”
The DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 at Michigan International Speedway will take place on Saturday, June 7 at Noon ET on FOX, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
