Jeff Burton weighs in on what's next for Corey LaJoie after replacing Chase Elliott

Corey LaJoie finally got the opportunity to race in a top ride during Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway, behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in place of the suspended Chase Elliott.

To say it was a mixed bag would likely be underselling it. LaJoie struggled, from hitting the wall in qualifying to roll off the starting grid 30th, to finishing P21 while averaging a 27th place running position.

NASCAR Cup Series legend Jeff Burton touched on LaJoie’s Hendrick debut during Monday’s “NASCAR on NBC” podcast, saying it was just a bad day at an inopportune time.

“I think everybody respects Corey for being a talented race car driver and yesterday, obviously wasn’t the day Corey wanted,” Burton said. “Didn’t put the stamp on the ‘I told you I could do it.’ Didn’t do that, but at the same token, every team has a bad day. Every team unloads stuff that’s not very good. 20 minutes of practice, not every driver drives the same way. You go to a team that has a champion driver, they built that program around him. You roll over in there — and by the way, the 5 [Kyle Larson] struggled early too.

“The 5 did not run well early — they rallied and found a way, but they’ve been working together a long time, have a lot of experience together and Corey and his team weren’t able to rally the way that Larson and his team were. I know Corey was disappointed, I know Corey probably feels like it was a missed opportunity… I would encourage Corey not to have his head hung low. It certainly wasn’t a successful venture… [but] it’s damn hard. And people have no idea how hard it is.”

Corey LaJoie disappointed, but not discouraged from Hendrick Motorsports debut

LaJoie was certainly disappointed with his performance, saying he “missed it a little bit.”

“We missed it a little bit,” LaJoie said Tuesday, via Racer. “I missed it a little bit; just couldn’t quite get settled into that NAPA Chevy. It was just different. Your switches are in a different spot. Your sight lines are a bit different and the car reacts differently. I don’t want to shy away from it. It wasn’t what the fans wanted to see. I wasn’t what I expected or what I thought I was capable of when that call came. But I’m not embarrassed by it. I’m not upset by it. I’m just disappointed.

“I didn’t leave [Hendrick] Monday after those meetings thinking I couldn’t do it. I actually left thinking that, OK, there’s a ton of value in continuity and a ton of value in just relationships within an organization. Where over the course of a weekend that driver/crew chief communication of trying to get that balance, trying to get it perfect for the driver’s style, we just didn’t have that opportunity. So, we missed the balance a little bit.”