LaJoie gambled his personal cash to safe a coveted Daytona 500 journey

Corey LaJoie’s NASCAR profession seemed to be reaching a conclusion on the finish of the 2024 season when he was booted from his full-time journey at Spire mid-year earlier than working the remaining races with Rick Ware Racing. There was no promise of a deal for 2025 or past.

On Thursday, although, the third-generation racer earned a spot to make his ninth consecutive look within the Daytona 500. And getting there was removed from straightforward. Putting his belief in destiny, LaJoie made one of many greatest gambles of his life. He knew the second RWR entry was with no driver for NASCAR’s greatest race and whoever put up the cash first can be the one to get the seat. So, he fronted his personal cash, joking it was from his child’s school fund, to “ensure that no one else obtained the automotive as a result of I do know this automotive is without doubt one of the extra fascinating [open cars] to drive,” and started preparations in hope to qualify for his big-bet occasion.

All for an opportunity

It was a nervous time for LaJoie with no assured spot within the race and no sponsor a month out from the occasion. “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,” continued LaJoie. “However fortunately for me, (sponsors) DuraMAX and Take 5 got here in on the final minute and took me off the hook.

“I felt just like the final 4 months of my life usually with some doorways shutting that I used to be praying to get shut and doorways opening that I used to be praying to get opened,” defined LaJoie. “A few of the ones that I did not anticipate getting opened. I felt just like the Lord has been in each step. [I] was at peace with letting that amount of cash go as a little bit of a religion tester,” mentioned LaJoie. “It was like every single day for weeks, and it obtained right down to the eleventh hour, proper, and He delivered that sponsor. I do not suppose it is coincidence. I believe that that partnership was meant to be.”

His greatest combat, although, was nonetheless forward of him by racing his manner into the five hundred, unlikely to have the ability to fall again on his qualifying time the place he was the fourth-fastest of the 9 open vehicles. LaJoie ran an ideal race throughout Duel 2 and crossed the road, unchallenged in sixth, which means he’ll begin twelfth on this Sunday’s Daytona 500. All the things after that could be a bonus now, and LaJoie even hinted at extra potential begins at tracks corresponding to Atlanta and Bristol.

“I am unsure what the long run holds fairly but, however I am excited that the primary field we got down to examine was coming down right here and making the Nice American Race, and that is what we did,” added LaJoie.

The veteran racer completed fourth in final yr’s Daytona 500 and what a narrative it might be if after 272 Cup races with no win, he earned his first in race the place it took blind religion and the gamble of a lifetime simply to be a part of the present.