Talladega’s Big One’s Wrath Consumes Corey LaJoie as Horrific Finish Line Footage Shocks Entire NASCAR World
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The GEICO 500 race at Talladega Superspeedway had a wretched finish. After a rather stale and uneventful race, a late battle between Brad Keselowski and Michael McDowell sparked the big one as they raced for the checkered. However, in a desperate attempt, McDowell spun inside the race track, resulting into absolute carnage. With Tyler Reddick weaving his way for the win, the entirety of the field behind him was covered in smoke.
While several race cars took serious damage, Corey LaJoie‘s No. 7 Chevy came off the worst from all the bumping and banging. Coming off the final turn, the No.7 car was tossed sideways into the fences and was dragged all the way to the finish. Despite being on just two wheels and at the mercy of the other cars, the Spire Motorsports driver finished the race in P18. His car finally came to a halt, crossed the start-finish line and rolled over before landing back on all four wheels.
Corey LaJoie was glad he made it to the finish line
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This was only the second time that a NASCAR driver had finished the race with no wheels on the ground. Clint Bowyer, who has now taken on the role of broadcasting in the FOX booth, was the first to do so back in 2007, during the Daytona 500 race. Coincidentally, both Bowyer and LaJoie, after being tossed in the air, finished 18th.
Fortunately, despite the ugly crash, LaJoie didn’t suffer any injuries. Speaking after the race, he said, “I’m good. That was the first slip of my career in a big car, so 10 out of 10 don’t recommend it. Pretty wild ride, just never could quite get it in the right spot, at the right time at the end. And then you just you’re just waiting to pile them up.”
From the visuals of his crash, it was hard to figure out if his car rolled over or not. Further explaining how he ended up across the finish line, he added, “I did full rotations. I did like the left side on the ground for a bit, then it kind of stopped. Then it flipped over, hit the roof, and then landed on all fours. All four hits was pretty big, glad I slipped past the finish line.”
Corey LaJoie went for a wild ride. pic.twitter.com/Pvnpb1xSFY
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 21, 2024
However, this result doesn’t help LaJoie’s cause, who hasn’t been able to find his groove since the Daytona outing.
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Lack of consistency is hampering LaJoie’s progress
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Surprisingly, today’s 18th-place finish for the Spire Motorsports driver was his third-best in the first ten races this season. Out of all the race tracks, Talladega had been a racetrack, where he had found joy in the past. But on a racetrack, when he wanted to turn the corner for good, he ended up getting wrecked, thus continuing his streak of sub-par results this season.
A P4 finish in the season’s opener at Daytona International Speedway is the only good result he has managed so far. He did decent at Atlanta, finishing 13th, but since then, it has been a downhill ride for the 32-year-old driver. He has ended four races outside the top 30 at Las Vegas, Phoenix, Richmond, and Martinsville.
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With ten races down the road, Spire Motorsports and LaJoie will need to rethink their approach and start churning out positive results before their season becomes unsalvageable. Do you think they’ll be able to do it?
Edited by:
Ranvijay Singh