LaJoie will fill in for an injured Brad Keselowski at Bowman Gray Stadium next month.
Corey LaJoie will be behind the wheel of a NASCAR Cup Series car for the first time since June of last year at Atlanta. He’ll be filling in for an injured Brad Keselowski at the Cookout Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 1, driving the #6 Ford for RFK Racing.
Last year, LaJoie drove just four races for Rick Ware Racing after running a full-time Cup schedule for Spire Motorsports from 2021 through 2024. LaJoie has a total of 276 starts in NASCAR’s top series, the earliest being in 2014. He’s notched 11 top tens, and has shown flashes of promise in his career, often while running in less than stellar equipment. This will be a rare opportunity for LaJoie to drive a car from a top-flight Cup series program. No matter what happens, we’ll be eager to hear his perspective on his popular podcast, Stacking Pennies.
Keselowski broke his right femur due to a skiing accident in December. The normally indestructible Keselowski hasn’t missed a points-paying Cup race since October 2009. He intends to miss the Clash exhibition race to give himself extra time to heal, in hopes that he can return to race in the Daytona 500 two weeks later on February 15 and keep his streak going.
Keselowski, the 2012 Cup series champion, is one of the sport’s elder statesmen, along with Kyle Busch. Although they’ve famously feuded in the past, they seem to get along just fine in recent ads referencing NASCAR’s season finale returning to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Both drivers clinched their championships there in the 2010s. Time heals all wounds after all.
Speaking of championships, NASCAR is expected to announce the new points/chase format on Monday. While many are holding out for a return to a traditional full-season points format, this seems more and more like a pipe dream as time goes on. After the disastrous end to the 2025 season, more and more fans are clamoring for something like the Winston Cup points format, but a revised playoff system seems more likely. No matter what happens, we’ll be sure to discuss it here on RacingJunk.com.
Photo: Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images
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