Spire Motorsports, the team that fielded the No. 7 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 for Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie, announced earlier this year that they were not interested in signing him beyond the 2024 racing season. LaJoie won’t fulfill that commitment after all – he was cut from Spire early and will trade places with Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, effective as of this weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway on September 29th, 2024.
LaJoie will drive the No. 51 Mustang, which is fielded by Rick Ware Racing (RWR), for the remainder of the 2024 campaign. Meanwhile, Haley will make an early move to Spire to drive the No. 7 Camaro, replacing LaJoie and starting his tenure with the Bow Tie-backed team ahead of schedule. Originally set to join in 2025, he’ll now begin racing for Spire immediately.
Both teams dropped the news on social media last week. It’s not clear why they decided to swap before the season is over, which is a rare occurrence in the Cup Series.
Corey LaJoie first joined Spire at the start of the 2021 season. He signed a multiyear extension to drive the No. 7 Camaro in August 2023, but will obviously not fulfill that obligation. His partnership with Spire has left quite a bit to be desired. In fact, he’s currently 28th in the Cup Series points standings and has three top-10 finishes this year, but did not earn a single win in almost four seasons with the team.
Haley, meanwhile, joined RWR at the start of the 2024 season. Previously, he drove the No. 31 NASCAR Chevy for Kaulig Racing fulltime in 2022 and 2023. Interestingly, he already has a win with Spire. He drove the No. 77 Chevy for the organization on a part-time basis in 2019, winning the summer Daytona race.
While Haley is spoken for in 2025, Corey LaJoie’s plans are not clear. RWR has not indicated if it will take him on as fulltime driver of the No. 51 Mustang next year, but Robby Benton, president of RWR, stated that the team will reevaluate its 2025 plans once the 2024 season is complete.
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