Corey LaJoie earned a 10 th place finish the last time he was behind of the wheel of the No. 24 youtheory Toyota at Bristol and he returned to the seat at one of his favorite tracks. LaJoie showed his love of the high banked concrete tracks as he earned his career best NASCAR XFINITY Series finish when he took the checkered flag in the sixth position in the rain delayed running of the Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway.
“That sure was fun out there today,” said LaJoie. “We fired off a little too loose there at the beginning of the race but the guys made some adjustments and we had good speed in our No. 24 youtheory Toyota. Our pit strategy worked out and gained us valuable track position and our speed was good so we were able to run up front there.”
LaJoie would start the 200-lap event from the 19th position as a result of an abbreviated qualifying session due to rain. With the race being postponed until Sunday morning, Corey would battle the loose condition early in the race before a caution on lap 33 allowed for a trip down pit road for much needed adjustments. With his No. 24 youtheory Toyota handling better, Corey methodically worked through traffic as he gained valuable track position.
With another caution coming at lap 60, Corey and his JGL Racing crew agreed to pit again for further adjustments and tires putting them on a different sequence than the leaders who stayed out on the track. The subsequent long green flag run saw the leaders forced to pit under green flag conditions and LaJoie would inherit the lead along with a timely caution on lap 138. Corey would come down pit road under caution one last time and return to the field in the fourth spot. Over the last 50 laps LaJoie would battle for a top-five finish before settling for his career best sixth place finish.
“Our pit strategy played out for us today and the car had good speed which allowed us to battle for a top-five there at the end,” added Corey. “Everyone on this JGL Racing team did a great job as we made good adjustments and had solid pit stops. I want to thank everyone at JGL Racing and youtheory for this opportunity and look forward to getting back behind the wheel in Texas.”
LaJoie will return to the seat of the No. 24 youtheory Toyota at Texas Motor Speedway for the running of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge on Saturday November 5th.
JGL Racing PR
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