Corey LaJoie talked about his choice to race part-time and work in broadcasting starting in 2025 on the podcast Stacking Pennies.
He opened up about experiencing depression in 2024 after a close friend became paralyzed in a serious accident. He admitted that he struggled to cope with his feelings and didn’t handle things well while at Spire. Although he and the 51 team enjoyed working together towards the end of 2024, LaJoie started to shift his mindset about racing full-time. He also recognized that Rick Ware wanted to give Cody Ware another chance as a full-time Cup driver.
At the Phoenix race, LaJoie informed Ware that he was in talks with Amazon about a broadcasting position and mentioned that he didn’t want to block Rick from putting Cody back in the 51 car. This year, he plans to take on an active role at Rick Ware Racing as a mentor and backup driver for Cody, while also contributing to the team’s competitive efforts, all while racing part-time in the No. 01 car.
Since he still has a year left on his contract with Spire, they are paying him this year, which allows him the freedom to explore this new path. He also mentioned that his chance to race in the Daytona 500 came about only in the last two weeks, and he will also compete in Atlanta.
