Corey LaJoie became a full-time NASCAR driver again this week but, despite his years in the sport and TV work...apparently he's not immediately recognisable.
The veteran driver signed a deal this week to run the rest of the Truck Series season with Kaulig Racing, replacing Daniel Dye in the No. 10 truck after the young driver resigned from the team following homophobic comments made on a recent livestream.
LaJoie relayed a story ahead of this week's race at Rockingham, which he finished in seventh, about stopping to pick up coffee on his way to the racetrack – which he walked away from looking at his new drive differently.
The Amazon Prime analyst got chatting at the counter about his clearly branded shirt – but wasn't recognized as a NASCAR driver. Instead, he was asked whether he worked for a Ram dealership.
Having explained what he actually does, he ended up leaving the store in a good mood, having been told he has a cool job. That's nice!
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LaJoie: I have a pretty cool job
LaJoie told Motorsport.com: “We were just chopping it up while I’m waiting on my coffee. I’ve got this shirt on and he asks, 'do you work for a Ram dealership' and I’m like 'kind of' and then I tell him I work for Ram in NASCAR.
“He goes, 'man, you got a cool job', and I’m like, 'yeah, it’s a pretty cool job', and I haven’t always thought about it because there was always the next thing I needed to do, the next step in the rung of where I wanted to go, but I left there thinking this is my cool job for the foreseeable future.”
He also expanded on his reasons for coming back to full-time racing, saying: “I miss working towards a goal,” Lajoie said. “I have this carbon fiber short track seat business that’s had some set-backs but it’s coming along but I like the stress and the constant battle within yourself.
“I like being part of a team and in the trenches, within the nitty gritty of packers and shims, and set-up philosophies. Where this Ram project is at right now, they need someone like that, right?”
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