Corey LaJoie takes flight, flips in scary wreck after contact with Noah Gragson
While racing Noah Gragson for position in the top 20, Corey LaJoie made contact, went sideways, and flipped. This is the second flip of the race weekend. Kyle Sieg went over in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday.
We had just had a huge wreck with multiple cars involved. Now we have a single car incident with Corey LaJoie flipping over. Even with his roof and hood flaps popping up as they should, the speed was too much. The No. 7 car flipped, concerning the NBC booth.
NASCAR is going to want to look at this wreck again. LaJoie should not have flipped from this incident, but he did. The driver was able to drop his window net soon after coming to a stop.
Noah Gragson and Corey LaJoie had raced each other hard. LaJoie was trying to make a move and it didn’t work. Between the delicate aero at this track and the slight contact, it was not a situation where LaJoie was going to make it out without spinning.
However, no one expected that car to flip. Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte were beside themselves. They said that it was unacceptable for that wreck to happen that way. They have a point, too.
Then again, LaJoie thanked NASCAR for building safe race cars after he was released from the care center.
Corey LaJoie breaks down flip at Michigan
When a driver goes in the air like this, everyone wants to know what happened. How did it feel? What was it like? After a quick trip to the care center, Corey LaJoie was able to talk about his ride.
“That’s just about the way the year’s gone,” LaJoie said, disappointed in yet another tough finish, speaking with NBC Sports after exiting the infield care center. “You know, we have a good car, and I find a way to flip it upside down. Twice this year, we’ve been upside down, and I haven’t been upside down in my whole career. Unfortunately, that’s how the year for our No. 7 team. We’ve had speed, just haven’t been able to put it all together. But the No. 10 chopped me a couple of times, especially off (Turn 2) and I had a run, and I don’t know, I haven’t seen the replay yet. If he pulled it off the wall when I was trying to get his left rear. … It was a ride, buddy.
“There’s sparks and dirt and all sorts of stuff coming in. I just hate that our Garner Trucking Camaro got a little dinged up. I think we had a top 12, top 10 car today, I hate that we ended up on our roof. … Kudos to NASCAR for building safe cars. … That’s a big lick.”
Corey LaJoie did take a big lick. Thankfully, he appears to be just fine.