In 16 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) races at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Spire Motorsports has led three laps and logged four top-25 finishes with eight different drivers. Corey LaJoie, driver of Spire Motorsports' No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has finished 21st twice (fall 2021, fall 2022) at the legendary half-mile Martinsville oval. The Mooresville, N.C., team fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NCS with LaJoie, and fellow drivers Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
The Cook Out 400 from Martinsville Speedway will be televised live on FS1 Sunday, April 7, beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The eighth of 36 races on the 2024 NCS schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. NASCAR RaceDay’s pre-race coverage on FS1 will take the green flag at 2 p.m. EDT.Corey LaJoie – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Corey LaJoie heads to Martinsville Speedway 27th in the NCS championship point standings. He started 21st and finished 36th last weekend at Richmond Raceway.
LaJoie is a former Martinsville winner in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series. The third-generation racer started fifth, led 110 laps and collected the checkered flag in the 2022 Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200.
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Sunday’s Cook Out 400 will mark LaJoie’s 13th NCS start at Martinsville Speedway and 244th career NCS start.
In 12 previous NCS starts at Martinsville, LaJoie has led 14 laps, recorded a 29.2 average start, a 26.2 average finish and completed 5,650 of 5,809 laps contested (97.3 percent).
Last April, LaJoie started 27th and finished 26th in the No. 7 NEGU Chevrolet Camaro.
LaJoie’s best NCS start at Martinsville came in October 2022 when he qualified 14th for the Xfinity 500. He would go on to finish 21st.
LaJoie’s best finish at Martinsville is 18th (twice) coming in the fall race of 2019 and spring 2020.
In 12 previous NCS starts at Martinsville, LaJoie has two top-20 and six top-25 finishes. He finished 18th in the fall of 2019 and again the following spring.Corey LaJoie Quotes
“Looking forward to rebounding at the paperclip. It’s always good going somewhere you’ve been to Victory Lane in the past. There is much more potential in this 7 team than what the past several weeks’ results have shown, so we’ll go execute like we know we’re capable of and get some points back.”
Zane Smith – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Sunday will mark Zane Smith’s second NCS start at Martinsville Speedway but the first time driving the No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports.
Martinsville marks the rookie driver’s eighth start for Spire Motorsports and his 17th career NCS start.
Smith finished 34th in his first NCS start at Martinsville last April, driving the No. 51 for Rick Ware Racing.
Smith owns an impressive NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) record at Martinsville winning the 2021 race and poles for the 2022 and 2023 races. He never finished outside the top-10 at the half-mile track in four NCTS races.
Smith finished 35th in Sunday night's NCS race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The race marked the first time Cup drivers started a points-paying race on rain tires. NASCAR switched the field back to dry-weather tires during a lap-30 pit stop. After qualifying 28th on Saturday, Smith drove to 21st by the end of Stage 1. He appeared ready to post a top-20 finish but a speeding penalty with just 84 laps remaining in the race dropped him down the order.
Smith will carry the No. 71 primary sponsor, Focused Health, Sunday at Martinsville. The blue and orange paint scheme represents a health insurance agency that assists consumers and employers in navigating the myriad of health insurance options in the government programs space.
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Fans can now order Focused Health No. 71 Zane Smith merchandise at shopzanesmith.com.After Richmond, what can you look forward to at Martinsville this weekend?
“We had a lot of positives at Richmond Sunday night. We are making progress. I think that will continue in Martinsville this weekend. My team never gives up and it works hard to give me a fast Focused Health Chevy Camaro each week. Our job is to focus on getting better and continue learning every day.”
Carson Hocevar – Driver, No.77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Carson Hocevar will pilot the No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway.
The eighth race of the 2024 season will mark Hocevar’s second NCS start at Martinsville Speedway. Last October, he qualified 32nd and finished 31st behind the wheel of LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s No. 42 entry.
Last Sunday, Hocevar qualified 25th and finished 27th at Richmond Raceway.
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Hocevar is currently 24th in the NCS championship standings, and trails fellow Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year contender Josh Berry by just nine points.
In four previous NCTS starts at Martinsville Speedway, Hocevar has logged a 14.3 average start, a 19th-place average finish and recorded two top-15 finishes. The 21-year-old racer has led 10 laps and completed 726 of 728 laps contested (99.7 percent) at the southern Virginia oval.
The Portage, Mich., driver logged four NCTS wins in 2023 and finished fourth in the division’s championship point standings.
Hocevar is featured on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET following each race to discuss his NCS rookie season.Carson Hocevar Quotes
You’ve raced at Martinsville five times in the past, four in the NCTS and last fall in the Cup Series. What have you learned from these previous starts and how do you, as a team, work toward better finishes?
“We had some back luck in my past races at Martinsville, so I feel hopeful about this weekend to put that behind me. I feel confident in myself and the team feels confident in our program that we can just keep building our notebook.”
Martinsville can get heated on the track. How do you channel your competitive drive without getting caught up in incidents?
“I think we just try to stay patient and survive all 500 laps to have a competitive day. Staying on the lead lap always helps and putting our ourselves in a good spot higher up in the field helps even more to take us out of the equation if anything ends up happening.”
From the Top of the Box
Ryan Sparks – Crew Chief, No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Ryan Sparks serves in a dual role as both Spire Motorsports competition director and crew chief for driver Corey LaJoie and the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro in the NCS.
Sparks, a Winston-Salem, N.C., native, has been paired with LaJoie since 2020.
Combined, Sparks and LaJoie have earned four top-five and seven top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place finish in the 2024 Daytona 500.Stephen Doran – Crew Chief, No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Stephen Doran begins his first full season as a Cup Series crew chief leading Zane Smith and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team during the 2024 season.
In 2006, Doran got his start in NASCAR at Petty Enterprises.
Prior to his arrival at Spire Motorsports, Doran worked at Stewart-Haas Racing as an engineer, most recently on the No. 4 car driven by Kevin Harvick.Luke Lambert – Crew Chief, No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Luke Lambert is the crew chief for Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 team with 2024 NCS Rookie of the Year candidate Carson Hocevar
The 2005 North Carolina State graduate has led the competition efforts for some of the sport’s most notable names including Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler and Chris Buescher.
In 2014, Lambert led Newman to a berth in the Championship 4, and ultimately a runner-up finish in the NCS championship point standings
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