When Corey LaJoie stepped out of the infield care center on Thursday night after his untimely exit from the first Duel, the look on his face was one of pure disappointment.
And who could blame him?
The race began with all four of RFK Racing’s entries getting together in the draft and towing the pack around the 2.5-mile tri-oval, and ended with Casey Mears flooring his way into the Daytona 500, leaving both LaJoie and Chandler Smith out of the Great American Race.
“I think I just got turned,” LaJoie said following his crash. “Obviously, the line on the bottom got soft there at the end, and the push just started coming and just turned me.”
Smith echoed a similar sentiment, stating that he and his No. 36 Ford Mustang were just “at the right place, just maybe not the right time.”
“I just kept saying, ‘If it’s in the Lord’s will for us to be in the 500, we’re going to be in it,'” Smith said. “If not, then we’re not. I’m just going to try to make sure that I don’t put so much pressure on myself, enjoy it, make sure that we set a culture for our [No.] 36 group that doesn’t put too much pressure on everybody. Let’s just go out there and go do our job.”
Both drivers’ weekends ended in suboptimal fashion, but for LaJoie, the opportunity to run the No. 99 RFK car was a complete surprise.
“It’s been incredible to work with these guys,” LaJoie said. “I didn’t see this opportunity coming about, didn’t see it ending like this, but at the end of the day, God is so good even in the valley.
“It sucks, but [we’re] going to run that truck and have a good time with those guys tomorrow, and see if we can’t end the weekend on a high note.”
Smith has the benefit of youth on his side. At just 23 years old, the Georgia native still has more racing ahead of him than behind him. Additionally, the top brass at Front Row Motorsports have high hopes for his development, which means that, to them, the loss likely stings much less.
LaJoie, however, spent the last two seasons driving for both Rick Ware Racing and Spire Motorsports, but neither team brought him back this year. Following the Cook Out Clash at Bowman-Gray Stadium, LaJoie’s luck appeared to be turning, as he showed speed and tenacity around the famed short track.
As Daytona does to many a driver, though, his luck turned on Thursday, and with no announcement regarding his future in NASCAR, the question of whether fans have seen the last of him is a fair one.
In comparison, the second Duel of the night was a summer breeze, with veteran drivers showcasing racecraft throughout, which ultimately led to Chase Elliott taking home the win, and BJ McLeod advancing to the Daytona 500 after Anthony Alfredo‘s finish was disallowed. Alfredo and JJ Yeley failed to advance to Sunday’s finale.
In a tale of two Duels, it was the first that won the metaphorical Emmy for best drama, and the second that sent the crowd home on a much warmer note — until postrace inspection, that is.
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for multiple automotive news outlets, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host, and a PhD. student at a premier college of media and mass communication. Tanner began working with Frontstretch in 2022, covering the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Happy for McLeod since he has no sponsorship on that car, so it will be a nice payday for him and maybe he picks up a sponsor for the race now that he is in.
It just kinda leaves a sour taste in your mouth that Lajoie is not in the field because of a numbers game that he was in the wrong Duel. He races in the 2nd Duel and he’s in the field relatively easy.
After purposely crashing Reed Sorensen out of the 2017 Duel so he could make the 500, I hope LaJoie has a nice comfy couch at home so he can watch the race.
I agree about lajoie, enjoy it from home.