LaJoie's day at Talladega ends with 'pretty wild ride'
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Kelly Crandall | April 22, 2024 11:12 AM ET
Corey LaJoie finished Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway by sliding under the checkered flag on the driver’s side of his Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.
LaJoie was collected in the multi-car crash in the tri-oval on the final lap of the GEICO 500. It started at the front of the field when leader Michael McDowell was turned by Brad Keselowski, who he was trying to block for the win. But the contact sent McDowell’s No. 34 Ford Mustang Dark Horse across the track in front of the pack.
The No. 7 car of LaJoie was in the middle of the pack when contact from Ryan Preece pushed him toward the outside wall and into Josh Berry. When sandwiched between the two Stewart-Haas Racing drivers, LaJoie’s car was pushed onto its side and rode the wall across the finish line.
“I’m good,” LaJoie said after being released from the infield care center. “That was the first flip of my career in a big car. So, 10 out of 10, don’t recommend it. It was a pretty wild ride.
“(I) just never could quite get in the right spot at the right time there at the end, and then you just know you’re just waiting to pile them up. Good thing I gave the belts a good old tug with about three (laps) to go, so I didn’t bounce around too much.”
The crash ended for LaJoie when his car fell from its side onto its roof, with the momentum putting it back on all four wheels. LaJoie finished 18th.
“The all four (wheels) hit was pretty big,” he said. “I’m glad I slid past the start/finish line, though, so I didn’t have to run past it like I was Carl Edwards (in 2009). So, at least I made it past the start/finish line.”
LaJoie didn’t see much of what started the crash. However, on the final lap, he expected something to happen and was along for the ride.
“I just saw smoke, and you’re committed to the fuel,” Lajoie said. “And somebody gets into you, and you just smash into somebody else and hit the wall and just hope that there’s no catch fence in front of you or you’re not the one upside down. But today, I was the one upside down.”