Daniel Dye was reinstated by NASCAR this week but released by Kaulig Racing after he was suspended by both the sanctioning body and Kaulig for inappropriate comments made during a livestream.
Dye, 22, now faces a similar uphill climb to get back into the sport that Cup Series driver Noah Gragson faced in 2023 when he was suspended by Legacy Motor Club and NASCAR for liking an insensitive post on social media.
By making comments he shouldn’t have made regardless, especially in the public view, Dye has made things much tougher for him going forward. Unlike Gragson, he doesn’t have a stellar body of work in the lower series of NASCAR as an upside for potential future employers. His NASCAR career has been similar to many young drivers: middling at best, without a win and without a very high ceiling above him.
Dye’s suspension also threw a wrench into the plans of Kaulig, who is in the midst of its first Truck Series season as the flag bearer for RAM in the latter’s return to NASCAR.
With one of its full-time drivers now looking for work, Kaulig needed a long-term solution. They found one in Corey LaJoie.
LaJoie came under fire in 2025 for comments made about the Truck Series when asked why he preferred a part-time Cup Series schedule to a full-time ride in the Truck Series.
“Do you want to go pump the ego up and hold a trophy on a Friday night when there’s 12 people in the grandstands?” LaJoie told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass. “No. I want to compete against the best.”
LaJoie later walked back those incendiary comments in June 2025 before racing in nine of the final 13 Truck Series races in 2025.
He’ll now compete in 22 of the final 26 races and will run for Truck Series points as he takes over the No. 10 Kaulig Racing RAM full-time.
It’s difficult not to see the opportunity, as unfortunate as the circumstances surrounding it are, as a huge one for LaJoie.
In a January interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, LaJoie touted his abilities ahead of his fill-in duties with RFK Racing in the Clash and his attempt to make the Daytona 500, the latter of which did not come to fruition.
“Am I a Hall of Fame guy?” LaJoie said. “No. But at the peak of my abilities, I feel like I was a top-10 Cup guy. And that’s not something many people can say that are trying to go for these seats.”
The numbers don’t exactly back that claim up. In 276 Cup starts, LaJoie has only 11 top-10 finishes. It should be noted that nearly all of those starts came with backmarker organizations who were still trying to build their programs.
Still, LaJoie is yet to win a race in the top three series of NASCAR. But there is reason to believe that could change now that he has 22 races ahead of him to round out the 2026 Truck Series season.
LaJoie didn’t find victory lane in his nine NCTS starts with Spire a season ago, but he did have seven top 10s and three top fives. His average finish was a stout 9.4.
Kaulig/RAM’s trucks don’t seem to be up to par yet with Spire, but as the season progresses, they’ll only get faster. Justin Haley and Brenden Queen have both put up solid results so far, and LaJoie should, at the very least, run around them if not better.
LaJoie also deserves to have at least a little confidence as he prepares to once again be full time in NASCAR. When a situation arose that necessitated the signing of a new full-time driver, Kaulig chose him. The organization could’ve decided to piecemeal together a 22-race schedule for the rest of the season with a plethora of drivers, but Kaulig went out and got LaJoie.
It’s unclear whether or not LaJoie will ever get another full-time Cup Series opportunity, at least one with a semi-decent organization. But his sudden ascension to a regular Truck Series ride gives him another opportunity to prove his worth.
First chances are rare in racing, and second chances rarer still.
This may not be the golden opportunity in NASCAR that LaJoie has been dreaming of since the end of 2024 when he was no longer a full-time Cup driver, but it’s one he can’t afford to waste. A good showing over the next 22 races could be the start of the redemption tour, while a poor 22-race stretch may be the death knell for his hopes of getting back to racing on Sunday.
But he has a shot, and at the end of the day, that’s all you can really ask for.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.
Kaulig and japCAR suck.
Go Daniel Dye, we wish you the best.