Corey LaJoie will not battle for a championship in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season, as NASCAR has confirmed to TobyChristie.com that it has officially denied the driver’s waiver request.
LaJoie was thrust into the full-time driving duties of the Kaulig Racing No. 10 Ram 1500 following a suspension for Daniel Dye, the original full-time driver of the No. 10 entry.
After Dye, who was suspended for homophobic remarks aimed at NTT IndyCar Series driver David Malukas on a livestream, was reinstated by NASCAR following his completion of sensitivity training, Dye resigned from his role as a driver at Kaulig Racing, and the team announced that LaJoie would finish out the season as the driver of the No. 10 entry.
Kaulig Racing filed a waiver request due to extraordinary circumstances.
LaJoie, who competed in the season-opening NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Daytona International Speedway for Henderson Motorsports, and the fourth race of the season, driving the No. 25 Ram Trucks “Free Agent Driver” entry, missed two races between those two starts, which made him ineligible to compete for the NASCAR Truck Series title this season.
In five races behind the wheel of the No. 10 Ram Truck, LaJoie has scored a pair of top-10 finishes at Rockingham and Dover, to go along with a 12th-place effort at Watkins Glen.
LaJoie had moved into the 22nd position of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship standings this past weekend at Dover, and he currently sits 96 points below the cutline for the Chase. There was obviously a long road for LaJoie to travel to make up the 96-point deficit, but there was hope he could claw his way back into Chase contention.
With the denial of the Chase waiver, that hope is officially snuffed out.
LaJoie, 34, was a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor from 2019 to 2024, but late in the 2024 season, Spire Motorsports revealed that LaJoie would not return to the team for the 2025 season.
With six races remaining in the 2024 season, LaJoie was traded from Spire Motorsports to Rick Ware Racing, where he finished the season out as the driver of the No. 51 Ford. LaJoie was unable to find a full-time ride for the 2025 season and has been driving part-time while also serving as an analyst with Prime Video.
