Corey LaJoie blown away by Hendrick Motorsports' 'pursuit of perfection' amid Chase Elliott suspension

Corey LaJoie no longer has to wonder why Hendrick Motorsports is and has been successful for the past four decades.

Being around the crew this week at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, the site of Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300, LaJoie finally understands. Tapped by Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 9 Chevrolet in place of the suspended Chase Elliott, LaJoie is working with the best equipment in the sport — and he knows it.

“I thought that I knew what we didn’t have at Spire Motorsports, but I had no idea,” LaJoie said Saturday, via NBC Sports. “There’s tools that those guys have, intellectual properties specific to Hendrick Motorsports, that even some of the other teams don’t have.

“But the biggest thing that I noticed was just the people and the attitude of the pursuit of perfection. All the key partner teams across all the [manufacturers] all have the same data, but [Hendrick Motorsports has] an unbelievable way of delegating, taking, compacting and making it just digestible – whether it’s for a driver, an engineer, a crew chief.

“I think the fact that they have four incredibly strong teams individually raises the tide for those guys because when you’re sitting in the simulator and William Byron ran a 33.20 [seconds for a lap] … if you’re running a 33.35 with the same setup, you know you have a tenth-and-a-half under your butt and you have to go find it. And then when I go run a 33.20, William next time is going to want to run a 33.19.

“There’s always a consistently raised watermark on the driver’s end. There’s always a consistently raised watermark on the crew chiefs in trying to build the best setups, and the engineers trying to find the best strategies.

Corey LaJoie gearing up for 1st ride with Hendrick Motorsports

“The inner-team competition is one of the biggest things, and I think there are several teams that have that … the healthy ones are certainly evident. But it’s just the overall structure. We have a Hawkeye [camera-based inspection stations used by NASCAR at the track] … all the things that do the same stuff that Hendrick Motorsports has, but the depth of people, collective focus of the goal and the mission is noticeable and evident. It’s a different world.”

LaJoie, who currently sits 19th in the points standings, will start 30th after clipping the wall in qualifying Saturday. Carson Hocevar, meanwhile, will be behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet in place of LaJoie and make his first-career Cup Series start. The 20-year-old Craftsman Truck Series regular will start 26th.

LaJoie will return to his Spire Motorsports ride the following week with a new mindset.

“How I prepare, how I’m going to engage with my team at Spire Motorsports going forward is going to change,” LaJoie said. “I think I’m going to be able to come in there and just apply and share some of the things I’ve learned over the course of the week with [crew chief Ryan] Sparks and the No. 77 team, as well, and I think we’re all going to be stronger for it.”