NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

'Devastated' Corey LaJoie misses Daytona 500 in most heartbreaking way possible

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Feb 12, 2026 8:53 PM ET

Corey LaJoie had a starting spot in Sunday's Daytona 500 all sewed up.

On the final lap of Thursday's first duel race at Daytona, LaJoie was running inside the top-10 and was the highest of the three open cars in his duel race. All he needed to do was bring his No. 99 RFK Racing Ford home to the checkered flag.

That was when disaster struck.

LaJoie was turned by Daniel Suarez on the backstretch, sending him into the wall and relegating him to a 19th-place finish.

Meanwhile, Casey Mears scooted on by to a seventh-place result and somehow, some way, made it into the Daytona 500 while LaJoie sat in the wreckage.

.@joeylogano wins Duel 1 and multiple cars get tangled at the rear of the pack. pic.twitter.com/mWLYItAdqb
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 13, 2026

LaJoie and Chandler Smith, who was involved in a crash earlier in the race, will not race on Sunday.

LaJoie was understandably dejected.

"It looked good for 149.5 miles," LaJoie told Fox Sports. "Thought we controlled the race as good as we can control it. The bottom lane got soft there, and the push came right at the same time I picked the No. 6 and it hooked me to the right. Sucks, man. Devastated. This is what you work for, and I don't have another one after this.

"I thought the Lord brought me this opportunity, but sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways. We're not going to quit."

Heartbreak not new for Corey LaJoie

It's the second time in as many races in 2026 that LaJoie has come up just shy of qualifying for a race.

During the last-chance qualifier for the Feb. 4 exhibition Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, LaJoie had a hard battle with Austin Cindric for the final transfer spot into the main event that saw Cindric come out on top.

It was the same song and the same verse for LaJoie at Daytona on Thursday.

Anthony Alfredo, BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley are the open cars in Duel 2. The highest-finishing of the three will make the Daytona 500 field, with the other two going home.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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