Corey LaJoie appreciated the opportunity to drive for Hendrick Motorsports at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday but said he was left unfulfilled by his performance.
“It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and experience here this week, just obviously disappointed in the overall result,” LaJoie said Tuesday while co-hosting on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “But (I’m) not disappointed by my effort and the all the things wrapped up in it. Obviously, the sentimental value was high, but at the end of the day, the expectations were higher leading into the event than what we executed.”
A seven-year Cup Series veteran, LaJoie substituted for the suspended Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Chevrolet. It was the first time LaJoie had driven something other than a Spire Motorsports car in the series in over two years. But LaJoie overdrove the car in practice and then hit the wall in qualifying to roll off the starting grid 30th. He finished 21st in Sunday’s race – the highest he reached all afternoon in the running order – and averaged a 27th-place running position.
“We missed it a little bit,” LaJoie said. “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 sightlines 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 Motorsports) 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.”
Without much experience at World Wide Technology Raceway, since he failed to finish the inaugural event last season, LaJoie said he, crew chief Alan Gustafson and the rest of the No. 9 group looked for a Chevrolet partner to lean on and hedged on Ross Chastain’s setup.