Corey LaJoie calls Garage 56 team at Le Mans a 'pleasant surprise'

Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie came away impressed and pleasantly surprised with NASCAR’s performance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans this past Sunday.

LaJoie added on his “Stacking Pennies” podcast Thursday that everyone involved represented the sport well.

The best of all worlds came together with @nascarg56. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/MOB0il69sm

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 15, 2023

“Eight hours of peace behind the wheel in that thing,” LaJoie said. “Jenson Button, [Mike] Rockenfeller and Jimmie Johnson. That deal was pretty cool, man. I think that was a pleasant surprise to everybody in the industry who didn’t quite know what it was or what the objective was. But [NASCAR CEO] Jim France had it in his mind, man, he wanted to go bring NASCAR to Le Mans. Also on their 100th centennial anniversary.

“Our 75th and their 100th — we had a car ripping around there. That thing with the paddle shifters and the no lift shift sounded nasty. So, kudos to Garage 56, NASCAR, Hendrick [Motorsports], Goodyear, GM — everybody that had a hand in that. I think it represented the sport incredibly well.”

NASCAR successfully completed the 24 Hours of Le Mans in their first running of the prestigious endurance race since 1976. Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro collectively driven by Button, Rockenfeller and Johnson crossed the finish line 39th after completing the full 285 laps. Button ran the first 97 laps before giving way to Rockenfeller following “Garage 56’s” first major mechanical setback.

Chad Knaus, Hendrick’s VP of Competition, described it as a “drive line issue.” The team spent one hour and 21 minutes making repairs to the car in the garage before getting back out on the race track. Rockenfeller immediately set the car’s fastest race lap yet at a 3:50.512 after changing the gearbox. Rockenfeller remained behind the wheel for 91 laps before handing things over to Johnson for the final 97 laps.

NASCAR CEO Jim France pleased with performance at Le Mans

France, who brokered the deal to get the Next Gen stock car in this year’s Le Mans, came away thrilled with the performance of the entire crew. This one certainly meant a lot to France as his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought NASCAR to Le Mans twice. Both times, however, the car failed to finish the race.

“That was thousands of hours of hard work by hundreds of people that went into making this thing happen. And then the way the team and the pit crews and everybody performed all week, it was just fantastic,” France said. “I hope my dad and my brother are somewhere up there looking down and smiling but the goal when we set out was to try and finish the race running at the end and not be last. And we accomplished that.”