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Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Corey LaJoie wreck snaps incredible streak of 44 straight races without DNF

Originally posted on 5 GOATs | By Jonathan Howard | Last updated 3/10/24

One consequence from today’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Phoenix, Corey LaJoie ended his streak of 44 races without a DNF. It was the longest active streak in the Cup Series.

Spire Motorsport has made huge strides in a short period of time. Corey LaJoie started the weekend with a rough qualifying run. He lost control a bit and it cost him. His teammate Carson Hocevar started in the top-10 though.

LaJoie fought to stay in or around the top-15 today. He was just in the wrong place, wrong time when John Hunter Nemechek rear-ended Joey Logano collecting multiple cars in Stage 3 this afternoon.

“I just saw the 22 going backwards in a hurry and had nowhere to go,” LaJoie said after the race, via Bob Pockrass or FOX Sports. “We just fought, clawed and got back on the lead lap, super happy about that and got ourselves in decent position there trying to work back towards. I feel like we had a top-15 car again, which I’m super confident about the kind of cars we’re bringing to the race track. It just sucks.

“First DNF in a while, you don’t like them but fewer and far between is always good.”

As far as the streak goes, Corey LaJoie is happy he was able to do it but wishes it had gone to 45 races without a DNF.

“You forget all the 44 when you’re standing here talking to you and there’s still guys making circles. Going to Bristol is one of my favorite tracks next week, so we’ll got back and rebound there.”

Corey LaJoie had a streak of 44 races where he was running at the finish … until today. His thoughts: pic.twitter.com/D8JUzJZCee
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 10, 2024

Carson Hocevar, LaJoie’s teammate, was able to finish P15 after an up-and-down day. Christopher Bell and his super fast Toyota Camry XSE took the win in Phoenix today.

Corey LaJoie caught up in Joey Logano wreck

Every race car driver will tell you when they get wrecked in the middle or back of the pack, they should have raced better so they wouldn’t be in that position. This is where incidents can break out, where drivers bunch up together, and where they are most desperate to move up.

That is more or less the situation that Corey LaJoie found himself in. Racing near the tail end of the lead lap cars is not a safe place to be. Fights over the lucky dog position break out and that’s where chaos erupted in this instance.

Logano got hit in the rear by John Hunter Nemechek. Something that Nemechek credited to Logano slowing down on the track. The two-time champ did not agree with that assessment one bit, by the way. He went as far as to say Nemechek needs to be “man enough” to admit his mistake.

Corey LaJoie found himself in a bad spot this week. Heading to Bristol, a track he enjoys racing at, what will the new and improved Spire Motorsports have up their sleeves?

This article first appeared on 5 GOATs and was syndicated with permission.

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