Earlier today, Spire Motorsports have decided to go its separate ways from Corey LaJoie ahead of the 2025 season.
There will be completely new face in the No.7 Chevy Camaro with Rodney Childers coming over from Stewart-Haas Racing (soon to be shut down & replaced by just Haas as a single car team) as crew chief while Ryan Sparks will be promoted within Spire as competition director.
It’s been a kind of surprise considering LaJoie has helped Spire so much with some occasional success up front since he and Ryan first jumped over from the then GO FAS Racing organization at the start of 2021. I’m sure the job isn’t done just yet with a few more regular season rounds to go after the two-week Olympics break resuming in mid-August but then that’s it once the actual Cup season ends in early November.
So yes, it’s not going to be the same with LaJoie in the No.7 next year but do understand where Spire wants to go competitively off the back of their recent big investments, and they’d like to have all three Cup teams racing at least Top 10-15 including 1-2 race wins every weekend.
We hope that LaJoie will get another good Cup ride somewhere like Kaulig Racing where they too have struggled with a full-time driver at times in the No.16 Chevy since AJ Allmendinger returned to racing Xfinity this year, and he’d be the perfect fit to get themselves back on track.
Again, they’re another serious organization, who made a name for themselves at Xfinity level, before Kaulig later expanded into Cup level full-time two years ago thanks to the current Next Gen chassis.
Who’s going to be replacing LaJoie? Easy to say Zane Smith but then he’s largely inconsistent so far this season by surprise other than the rare 2nd placed finish last month at Nashville. Looks like they will use their financial muscle to poach Justin Haley away from Rick Ware Racing, even though he’s committed to them right now.
It would be a huge loss from RWR to lose Haley only after one season but if that happens should Spire pay them money Rick & Lisa can’t refuse, then they can always rely on the experienced Ryan Preece who is also on the lookout for another ride with Stewart-Haas also set to shutdown at season’s end.
Now his time there also may be inconsistent since SHR is no longer on the same level as Team Penske, but he is someone who always had success in the lower tier series – even if it’s through part-time rides like Xfinity, Trucks and even modified cars as well.
For now, we wish Corey all the best in his next move and whoever takes him onboard will give his 100% best that would hopefully prove doubters wrong.