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Spire Motorsports driver Corey LaJoie recently outlined his goals for the 2024 NASCAR season.
LaJoie has had an encouraging start to his 2024 campaign. The 32-year-old secured a fourth-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 race. This was followed by a 13th-place finish in Atlanta, which saw him move down to 12th in the drivers' standings.
While the driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet has failed to secure a playoff position so far in his career, LaJoie and Spire Motorsports are clear about their goals for the 2024 season.
In a recent interview with NBC Sports, LaJoie unveiled their method of breaking down the season into seven five-race mini-seasons. These segments serve as checkpoints for the team, measuring various performance metrics such as average finish, laps led, and laps completed. He said:
"If you hit those markers for the five-race mini season, then everybody in the shop gets a bonus. Even the (Spire Motorsports) Truck team gets a bonus if the Cup team hits it."
"So, we introduced that last year and it made the season much more palpable. You know it gets long and grueling, but it allows you to reset and kind of attack each race segment with attention and some attainable goals."
Corey LaJoie is optimistic about his team's prospects of securing a playoff spot this season. He added:
"I think we hit two out of the seven last year and came up a little short on two more, so if we can hit all those little mini-season benchmarks then that should put us up in the conversation as right on the fringe, right on the outside looking in of pointing our way in the playoffs."
Corey LaJoie on his beef with Erik Jones
Corey LaJoie has had multiple run-ins with Erik Jones throughout his career. Their most recent clash in the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 race in Atlanta last season caused the 32-year-old driver to finish 31st despite a strong performance.
When asked by The Athletic to name a driver he'd avoid getting stuck in a lift with, LaJoie, unsurprisingly, named Jones.
"Erik Jones. We’ve had some run-ins. I don’t think we’re gonna be breaking bread together," he said. "And I think if an elevator broke down, he would be equally as upset as I would be."
