{"id":580696,"date":"2026-04-04T01:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/580696\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:12:12","slug":"corey-lajoie-is-excited-to-be-a-dang-nascar-driver-at-kaulig-ram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/580696\/","title":{"rendered":"Corey Lajoie is excited to be a dang NASCAR driver at Kaulig RAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Corey Lajoie stopped by one of his favorite coffee shops on the way to Rockingham Speedway on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

Local Patriot Roasting Company<\/p>\n

While there, and after placing his order, engaged in a conversation that kind of encapsulated the head space for the 34-year-old heading into this new opportunity in the Craftsman Truck Series with RAM and Kaulig Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just chopping it up while I\u2019m waiting on my coffee,\u201d Lajoie told Motorsport.com on Friday. \u201cI\u2019ve got this shirt on and he asks, ‘do you work for a RAM dealership’ and I\u2019m like ‘kind of’ and then I tell him I work for RAM in NASCAR.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe goes, ‘man, you got a cool job,’and I\u2019m like, ‘yeah, it\u2019s a pretty cool job,’ and I haven\u2019t always thought about it because there was always the next thing I needed to do, the next step in the rung of where I wanted to go, but I left there thinking this is my cool job for the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the parting of ways between Kaulig, RAM and Daniel Dye<\/a>, Lajoie got the call from team president Chris Rice and company and said it was ‘a pretty quick yes,’ but not for the reasons some might think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI miss working towards a goal,\u201d Lajoie said. \u201cI have this carbon fiber short track seat business that\u2019s had some set-backs but it\u2019s coming along but I like the stress and the constant battle within yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like being part of a team and in the trenches, within the nitty gritty of packers and shims, and set-up philosophies. Where this RAM project is at right now, they need someone like that, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Daniel <\/p>\n

Daniel Dye, #10 Kaulig Racing Ram<\/p>\n

Photo by: David Jensen \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

To wit, this Kaulig and RAM project is the ultimate NASCAR DIY program because it\u2019s only four races old and doesn\u2019t even have an operational simulation program yet. That’s coming along through Pratt Miller but it\u2019s going to take some time.<\/p>\n

In the meanwhile, RAM and Kaulig needed someone driving that No. 10 truck that knows what direction this program is supposed to go and what it’s supposed to feel like. After all, he\u2019s been part of building a project out before at Spire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at my Racing Reference, there\u2019s nothing sexy about it,\u201d Lajoie said. \u201cWhy? Because I have chosen the hard way of getting in with teams that were in a deficit for six or seven years in my career, especially at Spire, starting with nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we built that into a place where it became a respectable organization. We had great partners and it took a lot of wind out of my sails when I felt like that rug was ripped out from under me, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cRight when we got to the point where we were getting good people in the building and the cars were getting faster, they made a hard decision and I don\u2019t have any ill-will towards those guys, but it just took the wind out of my sails.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lajoie said it took him about a year to figure out there was more to life than making it to Cup, succeeding in Cup, and eventually winning at the highest level. And when it seemed like that chapter ended, Lajoie didn\u2019t entirely know what to do with himself.<\/p>\n

The controversial ’12 fans’ comment<\/p>\n

He made some mistakes, telling FOX Sports that he didn\u2019t want to take a Truck Series ride, and \u2018race in front of 12 fans.\u2019<\/a> He was just not in the right head space to contemplate a life outside of the Cup Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt defensive. I felt all these things. I was still trying to keep a seat at the table. But with this deal being on Fridays, no sim yet, and the workload being pretty low, it was an easy yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once we get this stuff going, I\u2019ll be going over to Pratt Miller more, and be at the shop more. But right now, it\u2019s an easy place for me to want to be because I show up at meetings, shake hands, go to battle at the track, and it’s ‘see you next Friday.’<\/p>\n

\u201cBig picture, this is a good opportunity with a high ceiling when you consider the tools Kaulig Racing has and the people they have in the building. Then you consider the expectations that RAM has on and off the race track, I believe this has a higher ceiling that what we had at Spire.\u201d<\/p>\n

A pathway back to Cup?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not lost on Lajoie that RAM parent company Stellantis is working towards a return to the Cup Series with the Dodge marque and this might be a chance for him to finish the story he was denied at Spire.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I have to win, right,\u201d Lajoie said. \u201cThat\u2019s always the knock on Corey Lajoue. ‘I have the same number of wins as Corey Lajoie.’ That\u2019s what they say. I see it. But again, I have chosen to take the long road without a destination and we were getting to a destination with Spire but never got to see it fully to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we can see something to fruition. I don\u2019t know what that is yet. I sure would love to win. I sure would love to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lajoie says the difference between himself at Spire and himself now is that he wants to be a mentor to his teammates. He says he wants to see Brenden Queen and Mini Tyrrell succeed. He called a post-practice meeting at Rockingham just because he felt like it would be a productive thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a peek behind the curtains at Hendrick,\u201d Lajoie said. \u201cI had a peek behind the curtain at RFK. I feel like I have an idea of what those teams do that make them successful. I want to contribute here and hopefully we can see some progress happen over the course of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specifically, Lajoie believes the RAM Kaulig program should regularly be racing for top-10s come the start of the Chase for the Championship. All told, he spoke with a sense of purpose on Friday that was a little different than the Corey Lajoie the industry would recognize.<\/p>\n

\"Corey <\/p>\n

Corey LaJoie<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sean Gardner \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Is there something to that?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Lajoie said. \u201cI just think, with the chapter of life that I\u2019m in, where I\u2019m not trying at all costs to be a Cup Series winner or champion, and all the selfish pursuits I had behind the wheel …<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I just like the community. I like having this battalion of people that I go to the race track with. So this is a different approach, much less selfish, and just holding it loosely. If I\u2019m not careful, I will live and die with this in a way that\u2019s not healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t want to get sucked into things that way but he does want to be part of the solution towards building the best Kaulig Racing and RAM Truck Series team possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cGranted, Rockingham is my favorite race track in the entire world, but I can\u2019t remember the last time I was this excited to drive to the race track,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, Daytona with RFK, I was optimistic, and content, but I didn\u2019t want it to go bad and it went the worst way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He missed the Daytona 500.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut today, it\u2019s like, man, even if it goes bad, I am excited to be a damn race car driver today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Corey Lajoie stopped by one of his favorite coffee shops on the way to Rockingham Speedway on Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,222362,634,18242,165060,167871,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-580696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-corey-lajoie-is-excited-to-be-a-dang-nascar-driver-at-kaulig-ram","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-nascar-truck","13":"tag-rockingham","14":"tag-rockingham-motor-speedway","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}