Corey LaJoie clears the air surrounding Kyle Busch wreck, approach to NASCAR Cup driving

Corey LaJoie has taken his fair share of heat this week for wrecking Kyle Busch among other drivers during this past Sunday’s race at Pocono.

LaJoie got aggressive on the Lap 120 restart, looking to make a move past Busch on the bottom. Busch blocked, forcing LaJoie on the apron. LaJoie then came up in Turn 1 and clipped Busch, sending him up the racetrack. The Spire Motorsports driver explained himself during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, saying his plan was to merge in behind Busch, but obviously, it didn’t turn out that way.

🗣️ "You had a little bit of give and take with the old car. This car, there's all take."@CoreyLaJoie joined #SXMOnTrack to further explain his perspective on the @KyleBusch incident at @PoconoRaceway.

Full Interview with the @SpireMotorsport driver → https://t.co/MKhd9eLXG8 pic.twitter.com/xkSm4RhOa4

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) July 17, 2024

“You’re making sometimes proactive decisions, a lot of times reactive decisions in the car and they’re all split second decisions,” LaJoie said. “Sometimes they’re wrong and you make mistakes. I’ve been getting poked and prodded by my team about being more aggressive on restarts and putting guys in worse spots and putting myself in better leverage positions. So, I just made a commitment to just force the issue more like other guys are doing. His [Busch] car stopped having forward progress, at the same time, I was gonna merge in behind him and essentially hooked him and unfortunately wiped out a bunch of cars in the process. That’s not the outcome I wanted.”

Corey LaJoie sounds off on becoming for selfish on the racetrack

LaJoie has had a tough season to this point, sitting 30th in the points standings. The Next Gen car, as well as the Cup Series, has been an adjustment, something he admits he’s still working on. LaJoie views himself as a clean driver, but also feels there’s more room for him to become more selfish.

“I have got this far in my driving career by generally racing pretty clean,” LaJoie said. “I stand my ground when I need to, but I’ve never been the kind of guy who just wrecks people on purpose. Generally, you cut me a break, I’ll cut you a break. But now, the Cup Series does not race like that. The Cup Series is you take all the time no matter what, no matter if it’s first lap, last lap or in between, you’re racing your ass off.

“It’s been a little bit of an adjustment for me to just turn up the selfishness meter or the give and take model where you had a little bit of give and take in the old car. This car there’s all take. I think it’s easy for the people on Reddit and the people watching the broadcast to just assume that whatever was malicious whether it was intentional or not but unless you’re in it, unless you’re the one holding the controls, only you know and then everybody’s gonna make their own assumptions and their own opinions. I’ve come to learn that none of those opinions matter, to be honest with ya.”