Corey LaJoie so badly needed to race within the Daytona 500 that he gambled his kids’s school fund to safe a seat in “The Nice American Race.”
LaJoie was let go final season from Spire Motorsports and closed out the 12 months driving the ultimate six races with Rick Ware Racing with no promise of 2025 work. Ware was keen to area a second automobile at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, however it might be a driver who introduced the monetary funding for the trouble.
LaJoie, who has welcomed three sons since 2020, grabbed their school fund and turned it over to Ware to ensure one other driver would not snag the No. 01 Ford earlier than he may discover sponsorship.
He mentioned he handed over the cash “in January to ensure no person else bought the automobile.”
“I used to be in all probability dumb sufficient to let my chips journey on the desk and attempt to make this race alone dime,” LaJoie mentioned. “It was all of my youngsters’ school fund rolled into one race.”
LaJoie mentioned the associated fee for the seat was “4 zeros, one comma,” however he was made entire earlier than he arrived at Daytona Worldwide Speedway when sponsors “DuraMAX and Take 5 got here in on the final minute and took me off the hook.”
Every little thing is bonus cash from right here as LaJoie raced his manner into the sector in certainly one of Thursday evening’s qualifying races. He and Cody Ware will give RWR two vehicles in Sunday’s race and strengthen Ford’s presence in an occasion wherein producers want to assist one another to be aggressive.
LaJoie will run a restricted Cup Series schedule with RWR this 12 months and likewise be an analyst for Amazon Prime Video’s portion of the Cup Collection schedule. He is utilizing the platforms to construct his Stacking Pennies Efficiency Model.
The No. 01 is supposed to characterize the “Stacking Pennies” idea LaJoie has developed round the concept that small victories result in higher success. His Stacking Pennies podcast is certainly one of NASCAR’s hottest.
RWR has not introduced what number of races LaJoie will enter, however he is within the largest present of the 12 months.
“I used to be at peace with letting that amount of cash go as a little bit of a religion tester,” LaJoie mentioned. “It was like each day for weeks, and it bought all the way down to the eleventh hour, proper? I’m unsure what the long run holds fairly but, however I’m excited that the primary field we got down to test was coming down right here and making the ‘Nice American Race,’ and that’s what we did.”
LaJoie completed fourth in final 12 months’s Daytona 500 driving for Spire.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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