LaJoie, Preece Show Recent Strength In Ride Searches

Corey LaJoie (7) races Chase Elliott Sunday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

DARLINGTON, S.C. - When a driver needs performances that will earn them a job for the following season, each moment means more. Just ask Corey LaJoie and Ryan Preece, two NASCAR Cup Series veterans still in search of rides for 2025.

But a stroke of good fortune boosted the pair Sunday night, as they took advantage of strategy calls at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway that positioned them for solid success in the Cook Out Southern 500.

LaJoie used a late pit stop for fresh tires to collect his first top 10 in the Cup Series on a non-drafting track. He finished ninth at the Track Too Tough to Tame, netting his second top 10 of the season and first since the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.

His efforts were also boosted by a multi-car accident late in the race that allowed him to jump even further forward, as well as a handful of restarts.

When asked about the chaos at the end of the race, LaJoie said he expected it.

“Cautions breed cautions. There were a lot of green flag runs. We worked hard to stay on the lead lap all night, and had a long stop under green, but our pit crew was great up until that [point],” he noted. “We had a hose get stuck up under the splitter, and we lost a lap.

“We then had a tire advantage towards the end, a lot of guys crashed, and we missed it and drove up back toward the front.”

Asked about his career night, LaJoie admittedly looked at his achievement differently. The 32-year-old said his No. 7 should’ve been contending for top 10s on non-drafting tracks, but has had weekends all year where he’s wrecked or things haven’t gone his way.

“I go in with the intention of doing this every week. We've been in plenty of spots in the top 10,” LaJoie explained. In fact, the first race that came to the Charlotte, N.C., native’s mind was “Nashville’s one where we crashed. “

“To actually put one in the notch at Darlington, at the hardest track we go to and the longest race, is good.”

LaJoie’s season has been rough, and also one where he’s drawn an ample amount of criticism. On one token, he’s often been outrun by his rookie Spire Motorsports teammates, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith, But in general, he just hasn’t lived up to a season where he was expected to take the next step and carry the banner for the Spire organization.

That led to a July 25 announcement of Spire Motorsports releasing LaJoie and not bringing him back for 2025. A little over a month since the news, LaJoie remains in search of a home for next season.

“There’s a lot of people chirping. Nonetheless, I’m going to get paid for ninth place Sunday night,” he said. “My phone is going to keep ringing when people want me to come drive their car.”

Ryan Preece (HHP/Jacy Norgaard)

For Preece, he’s in the same situation when it comes to races meaning more in regard to potential opportunities for next season. He finished 12th Sunday, capturing his second top 15 in three weeks.

The Berlin, Conn., native is the last Stewart-Haas Racing Cup Series driver who has yet to announce plans for next season.

However, he’s made the most out of the second half of the summer. At Darlington on Sunday, Preece tied his track-best finish of 12th, last achieved when he was with JTG Daugherty Racing in 2021. Two weeks ago at Daytona, he qualified fourth, although he was caught up in a wreck resulting in a DNF.

At Darlington, Preece stayed around the top 15 throughout the night, and got as high as eighth on the last restart. The 33-year-old didn’t get a chance to capture his first top 10 since Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, but managed to slot in just outside that threshold.

“We just got caught in a tough spot there at the end of the race,” said Preece. “We decided to stay out and risk it on fuel and it just didn’t work in our favor today.”

Although the two saw decent success at Darlington, they can look toward Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway as an even bigger opportunity. With a drafting event on tap that is often “the great equalizer” for teams that don’t necessarily contend for wins each week, being able to run up front two weeks in a row could further the pair’s resumes as they seek new homes.

LaJoie has two top fives at Atlanta since its reconfiguration in 2022 and finished 13th in the February race there. Preece, on the other hand, was 16th in the first Atlanta stop this season.

Broadcast coverage of the playoff-opening Quaker State 400 available at Walmart is slated for Sunday, Sept 8 at 3 p.m. ET on USA, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.