Corey LaJoie on Kyle Busch Pocono wreck: 'Sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug'
Corey LaJoie isn’t willing to shoulder the blame for the huge wreck that took out multiple cars at Pocono Raceway, stemming from contact between the Spire Motorsports wheelman and the No. 8 of Kyle Busch.
As the laps dwindled down in Pennsylvania, LaJoie went low to get to the inside of Busch. The 8 car blocked, then blocked a second time. LaJoie didn’t lift and sent Busch right around, spun back up into the track, made contact with some other innocent bystanders and went right out of the race.
It was another moment of bad luck for Busch, and another blemish on a disappointing season for LaJoie and the No. 7 team. Many believed LaJoie was at fault following the instant replay hitting social media, but LaJoie believed otherwise.
“Restarts are so crazy there,” LaJoie said, via Kelly Crandall of RACER. “If you have any momentum, you have to take it and go to the bottom to stake your ground. I got a big push from [Allmendinger] and it was like four wide, and I went to the left rear of [Busch], and he blocked it once and I stayed straight. I was anticipating our bumpers lining up and then pushing him forward and him taking a lane. But he blocked again when I had more position on him, and [I] spun him out.
“Hate it; took out him and some other guys, but that’s just what you have to do. You have to take momentum when you have it because if you don’t, the guy behind you is going to put you in a worse spot than you’re going to put the guy in front of you. That’s just how the racing is. You have to be super aggressive on restarts and sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug.”
It was simply a matter of LaJoie recognizing he needed to take the run when he had it, and Busch trying to block when he was out of position. There’s no remorse from the No. 7 wheelman, even if he felt for the cars who were wrecked in the process.
“You’ve got to take the run,” LaJoie added, via NASCAR.com. “I’m not the guy that wants to wreck anybody but I think if Kyle blocks only once, then we both go around the corner and live to fight another day.
“But that second block that he thought he had covered and he didn’t, was what did him and did a couple of other guys in.”
While the court of public opinion may feel differently, Corey LaJoie believes he was in the right in Pocono. It remains to be seen whether Kyle Busch feels that way, and if there’s any lingering issues between the two moving forward.