HAMPTON, Ga. — Daniel Hemric topped the chart in the second XFINITY Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 30.865 and a speed of 179.621 mph. Aric Almirola was second in his No. 98 Biagi-DenBeste Racing with a time of 31.002 and a speed of 178.627 mph. Cole Custer was third in his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 31.040 and a speed of 178.060 mph.
Brad Keselowski was fourth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 31.096 and a speed of 178.287 mph and Darrell Wallace Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 31.146 and a speed of 177.989 mph.
Kyle Busch, who posted the seventh-fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 175.217 mph.
HAMPTON, Ga. — Ryan Newman topped the chart in the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 29.509 and a speed of 187.875 mph. Jamie McMurray was second in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 29.531 and a speed of 187.735 mph. Kyle Busch was third in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 29.553 and a speed of 187.595 mph.
Matt Kenseth was fourth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota with a time of 29.569 and a speed of 187.494 mph as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 29.570 and a speed of 187.487 mph.
Kevin Harvick, who posted the 25th-fastest lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 179.977 mph.
HAMPTON, Ga. — Chase Briscoe topped the chart in the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The driver of the No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford was the fastest with a time of 30.616 and a speed of 181.082 mph. Noah Gragson was second in his No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota with a time of 30.820 and a speed of 179.883 mph and Alex Bowman was third in his No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 30.901 and a speed of 179.412 mph.
Christopher Bell was fourth fastest in his No. 4 KBM Toyota with a time of 30.954 and a speed of 179.104 mph while Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 GMS Chevrolet with a time of 31.013 and a speed of 178.764 mph.
Briscoe posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 176.255 mph.
HAMPTON, Ga. — Aric Almirola topped the chart in the first NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The driver of the No. 98 Biagi-DenBeste Racing Ford was the fastest with a time of 30.567 and a speed of 181.372 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 30.597 and a speed of 181.194 mph. Kevin Harvick was third in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 30.668 and a speed of 180.775 mph.
Brad Keselowski was fourth quickest in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 30.671 and a speed of 180.757 mph. Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-five in his No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet with a time of 30.788 and a speed of 180.070 mph.
No driver ran a series of consecutive laps of 10 or more laps.
On Sunday, 16 cars retired from the Daytona 500 due to an accident. On Saturday, 23 cars retired from the XFINITY Series race due to an accident. On Friday night, 11 trucks retired from the Camping World Truck Series race due to an accident. And those numbers don’t include the vehicles that also received damage as a result of these wrecks.
Austin Cindric heads for a head-on collision with the Turn 1 wall as the field wads up behind him in a multi-car wreck on the second lap of the NextEra Energy Resources 250 Camping World Truck Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
The car graveyard opened for business on only the second lap of the race when Noah Gragson was shunted into the wall by Chase Briscoe. Gragson’s lifeless truck came back down and clipped the No. 19 of Austin Cindric and sent him into the wall. The rest were collected or received damage because of checking up and the wreck played out as a result of an accordion effect.
“I was riding probably around seventh or eighth at the time on the outside and just got popped from behind,” Gragson said. “It felt like, going through one and two, the 29 got me. He hit me, got me sideways and then I tried not getting into the 27 (Ben Rhodes) in front of me, but it was not our night tonight I guess.”
In total, 14 trucks were involved in the lap 2 Big One: Gragson, Cindric, John Hunter Nemechek, Clay Greenfield, Stewart Friesen, Tommy Joe Martins, Tyler Young, Ross Chastain, JJ Yeley, Briscoe, Terry Jones, Cody Coughlin, Myatt Snyder and Bobby Gerhart.
Capping the night was the final lap wreck that collected 12 trucks.
Exiting Turn 2, Grant Enfinger was bump-drafting with teammate Ben Rhodes when he shunted him too much and loosened him. This turned him down into Matt Crafton, who did a 180 spin before his truck was lift up in the air, flipped in a corkscrew motion and landed on all four wheels.
“I was coming off (turn) two and I was like, ‘I’m going to win this race, I’m going to win this race.’ I got my Daytona jinx off of me and all of the sudden I looked in the mirror and I saw the 27 (Ben Rhodes) get turned and I’m like, ‘Just don’t let him get in the right rear of me,’ and the 27 of Ben Rhodes gave me the push to win that race and I got out so far going through the tri-oval and then I got hooked and then I felt light and it’s been a long time since I’ve been in the air then I was in the air and then I saw lights and we had the wrong side down boys,” Crafton said.
Amongst Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Ben Rhodes, Austin Wayne Self (who finished second), Regan Smith, Christopher Bell, Yeley, Snider, Coughlin, Timothy Peters, Spencer Gallagher and Enfinger all received some form of damage from the final lap wreck.
The next day in the XFINITY Series PowerShares QQQ 300, all but two cars made it through the race unscathed.
On lap 23, Scott Lagasse Jr. loosened Tyler Reddick and sent him into Spencer Gallagher, who comes back down and pinballs off other cars. In total, 20 cars (Kyle Larson, Garrett Smithley, Ryan Reed (who went on to win the race), Gallagher, Ray Black Jr., Cole Custer, Jeremy Clements, Michael Annett, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Yeley, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Green, William Byron, Benny Gordon, Lagasse, Anthony Kumpen, Clint King and Brendan Gaughan) were involved.
Cleanup necessitated the red flag for 18 minutes and 22 seconds.
On the restart with two laps remaining in the segment, Daniel Hemric gets loose in the speedy dry in Turn 3 and clips Justin Allgaier, sending him into the wall.
“I think the 7 (Allgaier) got turned by somebody and I saw Erik didn’t lift, so I didn’t lift and we were trying to go through the middle, and I think me and Daniel collided there. It was just unfortunate circumstances that put us there,” Wallace said.
Thirteen cars (Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez, Darrell Wallace Jr., Chris Cockrum, Hemric, Harrison Rhodes, Brandon Hightower, Matt Tifft, Lagasse and Blake Koch) were involved.
Cleanup for this wreck necessitated 27 minutes and 51 seconds of red flag time.
With 17 laps to go, the field was riding down the backstretch when Elliott Sadler was shunted into the wall by Austin Dillon and the resulting accordion effect resulted in a 16-car wreck (Reed, Dillon, Black, Sadler, Gaughan, Annett, Yeley, Koch, Byron, Suarez, Kumpen, Sieg, Chastain, Reddick, Smithley and Joey Gase).
After the checkered flag flew, there was a four-car wreck that included Smithley, Byron, Lagasse and Annett.
Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth and Ty Dillon come to a rest at the bottom of Turn 3 following a multi-car wreck just past halfway in the 59th running of the Daytona 500. Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images
The Daytona 500 was more collected for the first 105 laps. But that changed when Kyle Busch suffered a left or right-rear tire blowout, spun out in front of Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth, and collected them both as they went into the wall in Turn 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. who was leading the race, was clipped by Busch and sent into the wall.
“I don’t know what happened there with the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) he just got turned around. I tried to get the wheel turned and get down the race track but I lifted off the gas to miss it, and got on the splitter a little bit and the car went straight. We jumped him, and got in the wall a little bit,” Earnhardt said.
Cleanup necessitated a 17-minute red flag.
On lap 127, Jamie McMurray is shoving Jimmie Johnson down the backstretch when Johnson gets loose and turns down into Trevor Bayne. This sent both of them pin-balling through the middle of the pack and collected 12 other cars (Clint Bowyer, Chris Buescher, Danica Patrick, Kevin Harvick, DJ Kennington, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, David Ragan, Matt DiBenedetto, Gaughan, Cole Whitt, Kurt Busch (who would go on to win the race), Martin Truex Jr., Gase and Joey Logano) in the process.
With 59 to go, McMurray dove to the inside of Chase Elliott to pass, but was blocked. He checked up and was hooked into the wall by Gaughan. Suarez, who swerved left to avoid McMurray, came down on Ryan Newman and triggered an 11-car wreck (McMurray, Keselowski, Newman, Hamlin, Ragan, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Suarez, Ty Dillon, Elliott, Michael McDowell and Gaughan).
Kurt Busch now adds a Harley J. Earl Trophy to his collection and résumé, alongside his 2004 championship, after winning the 59th running of the Daytona 500.
Cole Whitt, who opted not to pit during the final caution of the race, led the field to the final restart with 47 laps to go and promptly lost the lead to Aric Almirola, who then lost it to Kyle Larson the following lap. He had a dicey battle for the lead with Joey Logano with 38 to go. Chase Elliott, who started on the pole, powered by Logano on the outside line on the backstretch with 26 to go to retake the lead.
With 20 to go, the bottom line started dissipating and the front 12 cars formed up in a single-file train on the top line. They remained in line until Ryan Blaney broke rank and attempted to form a working bottom line with 10 to go, but there was little help from the others and he jumped back in line.
“I tried to make a move with about 10 to go and I didn’t go anywhere,” Blaney said. “We were kind of stuck. Luckily we had the 22 with us and I kind of helped him and he kind of helped me.”
On the backstretch with four to go, Elliott’s car ran out of fuel. He fell back, went on to finish 14th, and gave way to Martin Truex Jr. He also ran out the following lap and Larson took back the lead, only to run out of gas in Turn 1. Busch was in position to capitalize and scored the victory.
“There is nothing predictable about this race anymore and the more years that have gone by that I didn’t win I kept trying to go back to patterns that I had seen in the past,” Busch said in victory lane. “My mirror fell off with 30 laps to go and I couldn’t even see out the back. And I thought that was an omen. Throw caution to the wind. The more unpredictability that keeps unfolding at the Daytona 500, I predicted it. It just got crazy and wild and I am so proud of all the drivers at the end. We put on a show for a full fuel run and nobody took each other out and it was one of the smartest chess games I have seen out there. All the hard work that Ford and SHR put into this — this Ford Fusion is in Daytona’s victory lane.”
The first half of the race was light on cautions with just two in the first 105 laps and only one for a wreck. That wreck being Corey LaJoie on lap 31 when he mistimed his entry onto pit road and aborted before slamming into the back of Clint Bowyer’s car, only to slam the tri-oval wall.
The cautions, and wrecks, started adding up with a six-car wreck on lap 105 that began when Kyle Busch’s car suffered either a left or right-rear tire blowout, piled into Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth, and slammed the wall, collecting also Ty Dillon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was leading the race when he was clipped by Busch.
This brought out the red flag for 17 minutes.
The next wreck was the Big One that started when Jamie McMurray shoved Jimmie Johnson down the backstretch. It loosened the 48 car and turned him down across the No. 6 of Trevor Bayne. This spun both of them out and sent them both pin-balling through a gaggle of cars. Fourteen cars were collected or received damage from the lap 127 wreck in Turn 3.
With 65 laps to go, Blaney signaled on the backstretch that he was coming to pit road. As he slowed down exiting Turn 4 to dive into the pits, Elliott Sadler turned up the track to avoid hitting him, only to clip Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. This sent the two Roush Fenway Racing drivers down the track and into the inside wall.
On the backstretch with 59 to go, McMurray, on the outside, tried to pass to the inside of Elliott. Elliott blocks the advance, so McMurray checks up. This gets him hooked into the wall by Brendan Gaughan. Daniel Suarez swerves to the left to avoid McMurray, takes out Ryan Newman and starts a chain reaction Big One that involved 11 cars.
The final wreck was a two-car wreck with 51 to go that started when Joey Gase was turned into the wall by Elliott. This set up the final 47 lap run to the finish.
The race lasted three hours 29 minutes and 31 seconds at an average speed of 143.187 mph. There were 37 lead changes among 18 different drivers and eight cautions for 40 laps.
Kurt Busch leaves with a 12-point lead over Blaney in the points standings.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 25, 2017) – In a race that evolved dramatically from early attrition into stunning door-to-door competition, Ryan Reed won the PowerShares QQQ 300, the high-intensity season-opener for the NASCAR XFINITY Series on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
It required “NASCAR Overtime” which extended the race to 124 laps, four more than the scheduled distance. Reed, driver of the No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford, surprisingly out-dueled three of NASCAR’s major stars – Kasey Kahne, Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski – during the OT. Reed, the 300’s champion in 2015, edged Kahne by 0.219 seconds at the stripe.
The PowerShares QQQ 300 had two significant multi-car incidents early. The first involved 19 cars, the second one nine. Both resulted in red-flag periods. Meanwhile, Elliott Sadler was a constant, avoiding trouble and winning the first two stages – both 30 laps – to earn extra points in the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship standings. Speedweeks is serving as the debut for NASCAR’s new national series format that divides races into three stages with extra points awarded to the top-10 finishers in each of the first two stages. Sadler led 40 laps overall but exited after being caught up in a Lap 104 mishap.
After that, the lead changed hands repeatedly over the last 20 laps. Reed took the lead for good on the overtime restart.
“I don’t know how that looked from the grandstands or on television but from my view it was a lot of fun,” Reed said. “Now, let’s go get some more. Let’s go win a championship.”
Prior to the PowerShares QQQ 300, the final practice for the 59th annual Daytona 500 was held, a one-hour, 25-minute session with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. posting the fastest lap on the 2.5-mile tri-oval – 196.452 mph in the No. 17 Fastenal Ford. Former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Ford) had the best 10-lap average speed of 195.635.
Chase Elliott (No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet) and two-time champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet) will start 1-2 in the DAYTONA 500 with two other former race champions, Jamie McMurray (No. 1 Cessna McDonald’s Chevrolet) and Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota) starting third and fourth, respectively.
Hamlin is trying to become only the fourth driver to win consecutive DAYTONA 500s. The others: Richard Petty in 1973-74; Cale Yarborough in 1983-84; and Sterling Marlin in 1994-95.
Stadium tickets for the 59th annual DAYTONA 500 are sold out but premium hospitality, infield admissions and UNOH Fanzone/Pre-Race access are available at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP as well as through PrimeSport.com, the official ticket exchange and travel package provider of Daytona International Speedway. Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,YouTube and Snapchat, and by downloading Daytona International Speedway’s mobile app, for the latest Speedway news throughout the season.
A few hours after earning his first pole in NASCAR, Kaz Grala was in the right place on the final lap to drive through a field of wrecking trucks to win the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona International Speedway.
With two laps to go, Johnny Sauter, who won stages 1 and 2, jumped down in front of Grala on the ensuing restart and led the field into Turn 1. Exiting Turn 2, Sauter jumped from the bottom line to the top to block the advance of Matt Crafton. After moving down, the outside line pushed Crafton to the lead. Sauter worked his way alongside Crafton in Turn 1 but found himself sandwiched in between Crafton on the bottom and Ben Rhodes on top.
Exiting Turn 2, Rhodes, who was receiving a bump draft from Grant Enfinger, got loosened by his teammate, turned down and clipped Crafton’s truck. His truck did a 180 spin and the combination of air rushing under the back of his car and being hit by Sauter lifted his truck into the air, flipped it in a corkscrew motion and landed on all four wheels.
Twelve trucks were involved in the final lap wreck.
Grala, who was behind Crafton when he was clipped by Rhodes, was leading when the caution flew and declared the race winner.
He was so overrun with elation, he could barely answer how he won the race.
“Oh I wish you could tell me,” he exclaimed to Hermie Sadler in victory lane. “Oh my gosh. Yeah, I didn’t know what I was doing. I don’t know how to do a doughnut. I don’t know how to do a victory lap like that. I just know *can’t make out* That was freaking awesome! I can’t believe we won Daytona! This completely changes our season and the way that we can play it. This is huge for our organization and for myself, for Jerry, for GMS, Keith Lewis. I can’t even believe this.”
Sadler asked him about his final 20 laps where he fell back and worked his way through the field.
“My radio chord came out on lap 79. So I drove almost to the end of the race no…Oh my God, someone flipped! (Referring to Crafton’s flip on the final lap as he watched a replay of it in victory lane) I drove almost the rest of the race without a radio on and barely through the green-white-checker, I got a radio on. Honestly, I got lucky coming out of (Turn) 2 there. I just didn’t lift and lucky everything went crazy around me. (I) hope everybody’s alright there, but oh I’m so happy with (how) that played out. I can’t even believe it.”
On the second lap of the event, there was a 17-truck wreck that was triggered by Chase Briscoe catching Noah Gragson at the wrong time, loosened him and turned him into the wall. Gragson came back down the track and clipped Austin Cindric, sending him into the outside wall. The rest of the trucks scattered and ran into one another, trying to avoid other spinning trucks in a plume of smoke.
There a few other smaller wrecks scattered through the race, including one involving race leaders Christopher Bell and Brett Moffit coming to the line at the end of stage 1.
This Camping World Truck Series race was the first NASCAR points-paying race to utilize stages, or segments, in any of its three national series.
The first stage was rather competitive with four lead changes in the first 20 laps, eight of which were run under caution.
The second stage was more collected with the field riding single-file for most of the 14 laps run under green (six under the caution from the end of stage 1). Other than a half-spin by John Hunter Nemechek in Turn 3 on lap 38, which didn’t bring out a caution, nothing threatened to break up the flow of the race until the end of stage 2 on lap 40.
Timothy Peters exited pit road first and restarted as the race leader. It only took Sauter two laps to work his way back to the lead, which he swapped with Rhodes a few laps later. The caution flew with 30 laps to go for a four-truck wreck.
With 23 to go, the field formed up into a single-file train hugging the bottom line. This was broken up by Nemechek spinning out on the backstretch with six to go, setting up the two-lap shootout and final lap wreck.
The race lasted one hour, 55 minutes and 38 seconds at an average speed of 129.720 mph. There were 14 lead changes among nine different drivers and six cautions for 29 laps.
Grala leaves Daytona with a 14-point lead over Sauter.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 23, 2017) – Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin won the Can-Am Duel races on Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway, as the starting grid for Sunday’s 59th annual DAYTONA 500 was established by the two 150-mile qualifying events.
For the first time since 1971, drivers in the Can-Am Duel earned Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship points for their efforts – the top-10 finishers in each race, to be exact. Drivers responded to that new situation by staging all-out battles in both 60-lappers. There was no indication of drivers playing it safe and looking ahead to the DAYTONA 500.
That flat-out mindset was personified by Elliott in the No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. He started on the pole of the first Can-Am Duel race after posting the fastest speed last Sunday during DAYTONA 500 Qualifying Presented By Kroger – which also locked him into the pole position for the DAYTONA 500. Elliott led a total of 25 laps including the last 24 in dominating style.
“It was a great way to start the season,” Elliott said. “I know this is just a Duel win and obviously I wish this was Sunday … but it still means a lot to me and it means a lot to our team.
“We had some big steam under the hood which was a huge factor in keeping us out front. I’m glad we were able to race and stay aggressive and battle those guys. Hopefully we can dial it in a little better on Sunday and give it another shot.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, had the pole for the second Can-Am Duel race after qualifying second behind Elliott last Sunday – which locked him into the DAYTONA 500 outside pole. Earnhardt led 53 of 60 laps but was passed by Hamlin in Turn 3 on Lap 59 and came home sixth. Hamlin got invaluable drafting help from a trailing Austin Dillon, using the momentum to zip by Earnhardt on the outside.
Hamlin – the defending DAYTONA 500 champion – will start the No. 11 FedEx Toyota behind Earnhardt on Sunday in the fourth position, thanks to his Can-Am Duel victory.
“We had a great car and we got a great push from Austin,” Hamlin said. “[Earnhardt] thought I was going one way and I went the other. I’m not sure what this means or what this says [about our DAYTONA 500 chances] but overall, pretty happy with the result.”
Two drivers from each Can-Am Duel race – part of a group of six “Open” entries who came to Speedweeks without guaranteed spots in the DAYTONA 500 field – “raced their way” into the big show via their Duel race result. (Thirty-six drivers were guaranteed spots via their status as NASCAR “Charter” entries.) From the first Can-Am Duel race, it was Corey LaJoie; from the second race, it was DJ Kennington.
Friday night at 7:30, the NextEra Energy Resources 250 will open the season for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Qualifying for the event will be at 4:30 p.m. There was one practice session for the trucks on Thursday, with rookie Chase Briscoe posting the fastest lap – 192.980 mph – in the No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford – owned by Brad Keselowski Racing.
Also Friday, two practice sessions will be held for both the DAYTONA 500 and the 59th annual PowerShares QQQ 300, Saturday’s season-opening race for the NASCAR XFINITY Series.
Tickets for the 59th annual DAYTONA 500 and other Speedweeks events can be purchased online at www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-PITSHOP. Fans can stay connected with Daytona International Speedway on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat, and by downloading Daytona International Speedway’s mobile app, for the latest Speedway news throughout the season.
Corey LaJoie made the most of his Monster Energy NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Daytona International Speedway, securing a spot in the Daytona 500 in his No. 83 BK Racing Toyota.
The 25-year-old third generation racer finished 18th in the first CanAm Duel, ahead of Reed Sorenson and Brendan Gaughan, to capture the transfer position that was available for one of these non-charter teams. It was not, however, without controversy.
On Lap 49, LaJoie made contact with the No. 55 car of Reed Sorenson which then spun into Paul Menard’s No. 27. Sorenson hit the inside retaining wall and was eliminated from the race.
After the qualifying race, Sorenson was understandably upset.
“I guess he felt like he did what he had to do to make the race,” he said. “I hope he’s proud of that part of it. There’s a lot of pressure going into making this race. It’s a very big deal for a small team like ours.”
LaJoie maintains that he didn’t intentionally wreck Sorensen, saying, “I mean, obviously wrecking Reed wasn’t how I drew it up. It certainly wasn’t on purpose. I was just trying to fill a hole. He didn’t think I should be there.”
But, he was also determined to do whatever it took to make the race,
“I just had to beat him,” he explained. “I didn’t want to be sipping Margaritas on the beach on Sunday. I wanted to be out there racing. If that was my mom, I’d probably spin her out to make the Daytona 500, too. That’s just frank. I’m not going on Reed’s Christmas card list this year, but that’s all right.”
To put it into perspective, LaJoie talked about how this opportunity came about and what it means to him.
“You know, Ron (Devine, BK Racing owner) could have put lots of guys in it, Casey Mears, the list is long for guys he could have put in it,” he said. “Obviously he likes giving young drivers a shot with Matt (DiBenedetto), Alex Bowman, the list goes on.
“I was politicking very hard. I don’t have a whole lot of starts in any division. I’ve been part-timing in everything. Limited XFINITY starts, a couple Truck starts, a couple Cup starts.
“I know I can do it in the right opportunity. I politicked very hard. I didn’t feel like I was making a whole lot of headway with it. I texted Jimmie Johnson. I said, ‘Hey, I feel like if the seven-time champ comes two weeks removed from the seventh championship makes a text, it could carry some weight.’ He said, ‘Oh, yeah, no problem.’
“So he called him up, talked for about an hour. Two days later the call came to me. Hey, this is the call you’ve been waiting for. Let’s go. It’s still only part-time. BK is working hard to try to sell sponsorship to fill more races, but right now all I care about is Sunday.”
LaJoie might have limited experience by some standards but his talent behind the wheel is undeniable.
He has six wins in the K&N Pro Series East Series where he finished second in the championship standings in 2012 and was selected as part of the 2012 NASCAR Next Class. LaJoie also has three wins in the ARCA Series and earned two top-10 finishes in 10 starts in the XFINITY Series in 2016.
And, while some may question his aggressiveness on the track, for LaJoie, this could be the break he’s been waiting for his entire life and he’s not about to waste it.
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