On Tuesday, it was announced that Corey LaJoie would not face any punishment for what appeared to be an intentional wreck of Kyle Busch at Pocono on Sunday. NASCAR deemed it a racing incident, though Sr. Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer noted they would sit down and speak with LaJoie to make sure he was “in a good place.”
NASCAR has come down decisively in recent weeks against drivers taking retaliatory action, albeit at much slower speeds. Should NASCAR have intervened and drawn a line in the sand? This week Steve Leffew and Vito Pugliese compare recent events and NASCAR’s verdicts in 2-Headed Monster.
This Aggression Will Not Stand…Man
LaJoie escaped the punitive arm of NASCAR enforcement on Tuesday, when the sanctioning body neglected to fine him following the incident with 40 laps to go that collected six different cars, including the object of his anger — Busch.
Putting the “ire” in “Spire” feels a bit ironic with LaJoie; usually one of the more affable and roundly-liked drivers on the circuit, his brand has been tarnished a bit this season dating back to Las Vegas in March, when he was involved in what looked to be accident that didn’t need to happen with Brad Keselowski.
This latest incident with another Cup Champion in Busch was certainly not a good look, particularly coming off the heels of NASCAR slapping Bubba Wallace with a $50,000 fine for post-race contact with Alex Bowman at the Chicago Street Course – and that was below 50mph, not where cars are typically at max speed entering turn one at one of the longest frontstretches in motorsports.
Should NASCAR have taken action? In this instance, they should have.
I will preface this by saying I have long been an advocate for LaJoie in the Cup Series. Many have derided him for not having won in any of the three touring divisions. Which is technically true, but given the equipment he has helmed, was he really expected to be ripping off four in a row like Harry Gant in his 50s? When you address a potential fine, I think a few things have to be taken into consideration.
The first of which is intent. Did he mean to spin Busch in front of the field? The fact he dented his rear bumper in his contact would indicate that he did.
The second thing I would look at was if the severity of the action warranted an equitable reaction on NASCAR’s part.
Sending a competitor at the fastest part of the track at Pocono is not something that should be brushed off as “just hard racin’” or whatever passe term you wish to ascribe to it. Think of the absolutely gnarly hits we’ve seen in turn 1 at Pocono over the years. Jeff Gordon tacoing the No. 24, Ken Schrader upside down and in flames and both Wallace and Jimmie Johnson experiencing brake failure into the wall all come to mind.
We can’t normalize retaliation at tracks where speeds are approaching 200 mph. Carl Edwards and Keselowski showed where this kind of thing leads about 15 years ago.
The third thing I would have taken under consideration is collateral damage. How many cars were wrecked and drivers’ days ruined from what was, in SVG speak, battling over 83rd? LaJoie’s own teammate narrowly avoided hitting Busch at full speed, which would have consumed two of Spire’s entries for the weekend. This was akin to Dale Earnhardt Jr. willfully turning Brian Vickers in front of the field at the Daytona 500, but worse since it was for basically last.
Brushing it off as some kind of ticky-tack holding penalty 20 yards away from the football is dangerous and irresponsible. If we’re pearl-clutching about Wallace hitting Bowman at city street-posted speed limits, Layne Riggs sending Stefan Parsons at Nashville or Carson Hocevar looping Harrison Burton under caution, then why turn a blind eye to turning a guy into oncoming traffic at 190mph? The mental gymnastics here are startling from some in NASCAR media, brushing it off as no big deal.
For a series that will waterboard you with their claims of having safety as their number-one priority, this all but flies in the face of that, and is yet another instance of inconsistency, which fans and competitors universally revile. – Vito Pugliese
Aggressive Restarts and Bad Blocking
No penalty for LaJoie was the right call.
LaJoie’s multi-car wreck involving Busch was a lot like rubbing salt on the wound, for both drivers.
Busch’s season has gone totally downhill and driven him into must-win territory to make the playoffs. LaJoie, meanwhile, sits 30th in points, seeming primed to slide backward after his career-high 25th in points last season.
The incident was brutal for both drivers, and a little embarrassing for how bad their seasons have been. Other drivers were caught up in the melee. It wasn’t pretty, but that doesn’t mean a penalty should’ve been issued. NASCAR made the right call by not penalizing LaJoie for his role in causing the wreck.
Look, it’s Pocono. These cars have extremely high drag. They’re getting up through the gears heading into turn one, and nobody wants to lose any positions. LaJoie had a run, Busch threw an aggressive block. LaJoie found himself near the apron heading into the turn while running at a very high speed. He simply was not going to make the corner from that far down. He came back up onto the track hoping to blend in behind Busch, just as Busch’s car was hitting the rev-limiter.
Busch’s lack of momentum from the rev-limiter caused LaJoie to hook him instead of getting in behind him. The rest is history.
This was very clearly a racing incident. There are a few reasons why possibility of a penalty has been discussed. First, both drivers are under-performing so badly, it leads minds to wander about whether the wreck was an intentional and desperate move. It wasn’t.
LaJoie was a beloved underdog for many years, going back to 2017. When his teammate was Ty Dillon, LaJoie appeared to be out-performing his equipment. Now that Dillon is out at Spire Motorsports and Hocevar is in, LaJoie is being exposed as an inferior talent: Hocevar is seven places above LaJoie in the standings, despite far less experience.
Now, we’ve learned top-tier crew chief Rodney Childers will be teamed with LaJoie next season, and some fans might feel like it’s a waste of Childers’ talent. Time will tell on that. But these factors are causing LaJoie not to get the benefit of the doubt.
Another reason is because Wallace was fined after hitting Bowman on the cool-down lap, and there is a subsection of the NASCAR fan base that feels the penalty was unjustified. In their minds, it’s now gone into eye-for-an-eye mode. The only way their perceived wrong can be made right is seeing another driver penalized, as soon as the next opportunity to reasonably do so comes about.
There will be many more fines issued before the season is over. The Wallace fans will get their retribution. A wreck while running six-wide into turn 1 at Pocono isn’t grounds for any penalties.
A penalty for LaJoie on this would open up the slippery slope of nitpicking every accident for potential penalties. That isn’t how NASCAR racing works. – Steve Leffew
Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. With his column Voice of Vito (monthly, Fridays) he’s a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars and presumably oil-soaked cardboard in his garage.
Steve Leffew joined Frontstretch in 2023 and covers the Xfinity Series. He has served honorably in the United States Air Force and and lives in Wisconsin.
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How about this: If you bump into someone and they wreck or are damaged, you must wait on pit road until they return to the race or go to the garage. If they go to the garage, then you finish behind them.
Let’s just throw out everything that was great about nascar and have the booth control it all.
It isn’t like Busch is the only one blocking on the restart. When they fan out seven wide there’s plenty of blocking going on. Lajoie could have dragged his brake for a second and he could have blended in behind Kyle. That’s what all the others drivers that were being blocked had to do.
If they fine him because of Busch I’ll never watch again.
Good for you, stick to it.
Busch makes $16.9 million this year. For 38 races it breaks down to 444,xxx a race lololol smart play Richard.
I think I remember Hamlin causing a dnf for Chastain in turn 1 a few Pocono races back and penalties weren’t a thought.