Spire Motorsports announced this morning that they are moving forward without long-time driver Corey LaJoie at the conclusion of the 2024 season, reported by Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic.
LaJoie left Go FAS Racing after 2020 to join Spire in the #7 Chevrolet Camaro. Since his hire, LaJoie made steady gains over the last three seasons, notching a career-high two top-5s and three top-10s in 2023 on the way to a 25th-place points result.
Unfortunately for LaJoie and Spire, the #7 team’s results paint a picture of a struggling driver with little career success and sponsor backing regressing at the age of 32.
Corey’s lone top-10 (and top-5) of the season came at the Daytona 500 where a multi-car wreck that he triggered brought out a caution on the final lap, sealing a fourth-place result.
That isn’t the only caution LaJoie has found himself involved in this year.
LaJoie has been involved in or caused 15 incidents in the series’ 22 races with four of those coming within eight days of each other at Loudon and Nashville.
In fact, LaJoie associated himself with the yellow flag in every single NBC broadcasted race until Indy this past weekend. LaJoie’s most controversial move of the season came the week before in Pocono where he punted Kyle Busch’s car into traffic, triggering a multi-car collision.
Though NASCAR did nothing to police the move, it was another in LaJoie’s growing collection of accidents, and after the announcement that Rodney Childers would become crew chief of the #7 team for 2025, the magnifying glass on the underperforming driver out of Connecticut scorched him like a fire ant on blacktop.
LaJoie has the next 14 races to prove himself worthy of a new opportunity, but let’s have some fun and see whom Spire will pair up with Childers in 2025.
1) Kyle Busch
The embattled two-time Cup champion is in the midst of the worst season of his NASCAR career.
His shocking move to Richard Childress Racing for 2023 played out in his favor in the short-term, logging three wins in the first 15 races and getting bounced in the Round of 12.
Busch’s performance this year leaves much to be desired, and it would surprise no one if the 63-time race winner found a different ride for next season.
Pairing Busch with a proven winner in Rodney Childers seems like a wide-open, fastbreak slam dunk for a growing team like Spire Motorsports.
Spire and Busch worked together on the sale of Busch’s truck team and subsequently hired him on for a few races this season, so they already have a working business relationship.
The largest sticking point is Busch’s current contract. He is currently signed through 2025 with RCR, though Richard is no stranger to a contract buyout as he divorced himself from Tyler Reddick a year early to make way for Kyle in 2022.
With Michael McDowell joining Spire in 2025 in the #71, having a championship driver like Kyle to propel the team forward and mentor the team’s overaggressive rookie, Carson Hocevar, would be an ideal way to ring in the next TV deal for a budding franchise.
2) Christian Eckes
One of Kyle Busch’s protégés brings eyes to the Truck Series for the right reasons, no doubt catching the eyes of talent scouts in the Cup Series.
Had it not been for a questionable penalty at Homestead, Eckes would’ve won the Truck Series title last season after earning his fourth win of the year at Phoenix.
Eckes carried that momentum into 2024, and he hasn’t let up.
The New Yorker cruised to wins at Bristol, Martinsville, and Nashville while finishing in the top-10 in every single race save for Atlanta where mechanical issues ended his day early.
Spire developed Hocevar and brought him up to the Cup Series this season straight out of the Truck Series to mostly positive returns, meaning grabbing another burgeoning talent isn’t out of the question.
Hocevar made it a point to say that the Cup car drives a lot like the current Truck, so if the team wants to take a chance on a mature young driver to pair with Childers, Eckes would be a great one to sign.
3) Sam Mayer
What a last 11 months it has been for the JR Motorsports driver.
The 21-year-old made a statement when he made a daring three-wide pass for the lead in Overtime to claim his first win at his home state track in Road America last August.
After getting the proverbial monkey off of his back, the Wisconsinite rattled off five more wins at completely different racetracks (Watkins Glen, Charlotte Roval, Homestead, Texas, and Iowa) and locked himself into the Championship 4 at the end of last season.
Mayer got off on the wrong foot to start the season until his thrilling win at Texas turned his year around. Sam has since won at Iowa in the Xfinity Series’ return to the circuit and expressed his frustration at not being considered for open Cup Series seats.
It remains to be seen how Mayer will perform in the second half of the year, but the upside of this Midwestern star could land him a ride at Spire Motorsports alongside Rodney Childers next season.
4) Nick Sanchez
Rev Racing’s championship-contending driver has backing from a familiar name.
Nick Sanchez’s career took off in ARCA, claiming the 2022 series title while missing a race. During that season, his team acquired sponsorship from Gainbridge, and they’ve brought that sponsor up to Trucks.
Spire Motorsports receives sponsorship from Gainbridge, particularly for their #7 car. If the sponsor has their say, could Nick Sanchez be the name that pops up first?
The 23-year-old established himself in his sophomore season, winning at Daytona and Charlotte thus far. Though Corey Heim and Eckes are dominating the series, the Gainbridge Silverado is often in their tire tracks.
Sanchez’s reputation as a speedy driver has ruffled feathers among the veterans of the Truck Series, and he will no doubt have similar issues as he grows in the Cup Series.
That said, the Miami native could make for a good combo with Childers in his ear with the right amount of time and patience.
5) Zane Smith
I’ll level with y’all: this might make the most sense.
Despite his lower spot in points, Zane Smith has strung together five top-20 finishes in the last seven races, including a runner-up result at Nashville.
Smith’s recent improvements helped repair his stock as a prospect after an abject disaster of a season through the Coca-Cola 600. It might be a sign of good things to come for the Truck Series champion.
Leaving Front Row Motorsports and Ford was always going to be an uphill battle when it came to getting Zane Smith’s feet beneath him, and not enough people have considered that.
This #71 team consists of: a rookie driver, a rookie crew chief, a team built from scratch, and it doesn’t take data from Hendrick Motorsports like the #7 and #77. Instead, Zane Smith and his team are leased out to Spire from Trackhouse; Trackhouse exchanges data with RCR, not HMS.
Giving Smith a champion on the pit box and in the garage would undoubtedly give the Californian his best opportunity in a Cup car to-date, and it would be as simple as sliding the number 1 off of his cars.
6) Marco Andretti
(This isn’t my most outlandish prediction, stay tuned.)
On Kevin Harvick’s podcast this past week, Kyle Larson explained that the current NextGen model for NASCAR handles similarly to the IndyCar. (To clarify, Larson said the Cup car feels faster because it has less grip in the corners.)
The 37-year-old third-generation racer occupies a seat in about one-third of the ARCA schedule this season and finishes well when he doesn’t get caught in someone else’s mess.
Having abundant experience racing in IndyCar, it could be assumed that Andretti would adapt to the NextGen car a lot easier than he has with the ARCA car, a vehicle reminiscent of the narrower Cup cars of the past.
Do I think this is a good idea? Not really, but he is an Andretti with a mountain of sponsorship dollars behind him from — you guessed it — Gainbridge!
While I don’t approve, I would understand the decision.
7) Rotation
This ride could revert to the rotating seat role that the #77 once held.
I want to stress that I don’t think this would necessarily be a good idea. It could be rather bad, especially for the aging Rodney Childers having to adjust his car for different drivers every single week.
But, teams make ill-advised decisions all the time.
My thought is that this could be a Hendrick-affiliate car for up-and-coming drivers to get some reps in the Cup Series before breaking through as full-time drivers.
Drivers that immediately come to mind are: Connor Zilisch, Jesse Love, Rajah Caruth, Brent Crews, and any of the drivers listed above save for Zane Smith.
Perhaps Kyle Busch takes a year off from the Cup Series grind to score that elusive Truck Series title, becoming the only champion of all three NASCAR national series.
All of these drivers could theoretically benefit from getting seat time in a Hendrick satellite entry with Rodney Childers calling the shots, but ultimately, I think this idea would be risky at-best.
(Top Photo Credit: Donna Vie Photography)
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