On Monday (June 2), it was announced that Corey LaJoie would return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on a nine-race deal with Spire Motorsports.
To put it bluntly, everything about this news story is surprising.
First, LaJoie returns to Spire for the first time since the team traded him for Justin Haley in a rare ride-swap between the two Cup Series drivers and teams. Now, LaJoie returns to the team as a teammate to the driver who took his old Cup ride — and might be doing worse than LaJoie (but that’s a different story).
Then there’s the fact that LaJoie is returning to the Truck Series — not just for a race here and there, but for nine of the final 13 races of the 2025 Truck Series season.
LaJoie caught a lot of heat prior to the 2025 season for not taking any of the Truck Series rides offered to him. One of those, in particular, was the No. 19 truck for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. The truck was driven by Christian Eckes last year and was the only team that could even hold a candle to Corey Heim throughout the entire 2024 season.
When LaJoie turned the ride down, MHR turned to another former Cup driver in Daniel Hemric, who has already won a race with the team this season at Martinsville Speedway.
But why was LaJoie so against a full-time Truck Series ride?
There were seemingly no other full-time offers available to him, and is only running a part-time Cup schedule this season with Rick Ware Racing — so far, the 33-year-old has only made three starts this season.
So why? During NASCAR’s annual preseason Media Day, LaJoie told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass in no uncertain terms why.
“Those guys that say they want to try to win, they win one or two truck races a year, and then they’re lifelong truck guys, and they never get to race on Sunday,” LaJoie said. “Sure, do you wanna go pump the ego up and hold a trophy on a Friday when there’s 12 people in the grandstands? No.
“I can’t also justify to my partners that have been invested in me to go down to the lower divisions cause they don’t get return for their money. They want to bring their people to the big show, not to a Friday or Saturday show.”
Needless to say, these comments didn’t go over too well with the general NASCAR public.
Some cited Truck Series drivers such as Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jack Sprague, as well as Xfinity Series drivers Justin Allgaier and LaJoie’s own father Randy LaJoie, as drivers who have made a Hall of Fame career in the lower series. Others cited drivers such as John Hunter Nemechek and Anthony Alfredo as drivers who decided to return to the lower series to improve their craft after tasting the difficulty of full-time Cup Series competition.
In a weird twist of fate, however, LaJoie now finds himself part-time in the same series he could’ve been in on a full-time basis to begin with. Even weirder, he’s doing it with the team that gave him away in a trade less than a year ago.
LaJoie will compete in Saturday’s (June 7) race at Michigan International Speedway, then will return to the truck for the final eight races of the season in an effort to win the owners’ championship for Spire’s No. 07.
It didn’t have to be this way for LaJoie — he could have just taken the MHR No. 19 and still would’ve (likely) had a part-time Cup ride for his sponsors to fund. He also could’ve still kept his role as a studio analyst for the five races broadcast on Amazon Prime Video. MHR’s No. 19 is mostly (if not fully) funded by NAPA, as well, so LaJoie wouldn’t have had to worry about finding sponsors.
But instead, he decided that being out of the car but for sporadic races here and there would be more his style than a full-time ride in any series.
So what changed in that time frame? Why is LaJoie now choosing to spend 2025 running a bigger Truck Series schedule than his Cup/Prime schedule?
There’s something to be said about LaJoie returning to Spire after the way their partnership ended last season. LaJoie was with the team when it was still a fledgling backmarker and was part of the building process from almost the beginning. LaJoie has had a big hand in making Spire what it is.
For Spire, to approach LaJoie and ask him to drive the truck, and for LaJoie to say yes after how things ended between them, is a big deal.
But also, Spire might just be LaJoie’s best chance at making it back to Cup on a full- or almost-full-time basis. If LaJoie joins MHR, there is a strong chance that he could become a Truck Series lifer due to no clear path back to Cup through that pipeline. With Spire, LaJoie can propel himself back to Cup with Spire itself — provided he does well enough in the Truck Series and another driver in the Cup Series either struggles (like Haley) or retires (like Michael McDowell).
Maybe LaJoie finally came to his senses and thought that, even if it’s in front of 12 people, the juice is worth the squeeze if it means he can get back to Cup for more than just a three-race schedule like he has currently.
And honestly, it’s probably for the best. LaJoie has been criticized from all angles by drivers, fans and media alike after his 2024 season was nothing short of a disaster — a crazy heel turn that, in reality, started after filling in for Chase Elliott in the No. 9 at Hendrick Motorsports in 2023. LaJoie not only underperformed in the ride, but was outrun by Carson Hocevar, a then-Truck Series driver making his first start while replacing LaJoie in his own ride.
After outcries that LaJoie could improve his stock and his racecraft tremendously by running more in the Truck Series, he seems to be heeding that advice with the help of an old friend in Spire.
Maybe those 12 fans are just the people LaJoie needs to begin winning back the NASCAR faithful.
Fortunately, since the announcement, LaJoie has taken the comments he made back in January in jest, creating an AI-generated image of 11 fans (missed it by one, apparently) in the stands cheering on the No. 07 to celebrate his new deal.
Hopefully, the deal can stack him some pennies — and maybe some victories, too.
LaJoie and the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field will take on Michigan International Speedway this Saturday, June 7 at approximately noon ET on FOX (check your local listings).
Truckin’ Tidbits
- Layne Riggs has gained a multi-race sponsorship from CLEW Nicotine Pouches. The deal begins at Michigan, though its other races were not announced. CLEW will also serve as an associate for every race for the rest of the season.
- Atlanta Motor Speedway, host to the second race of the Truck Series season, has officially been renamed EchoPark Speedway in a seven-year deal. Atlanta follows in the footsteps of tracks who have previously or presently have a sponsor in place of the track name, such as World Wide Technology Raceway (was Gateway Motorsports Park), Phoenix Raceway (formerly ISM Raceway) and Sonoma Raceway (formerly Infineon Raceway).
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.