LaJoie to honor Davey Allison with Darlington throwback scheme

RELATED: All Darlington throwback paint schemes

BK Racing and driver Corey LaJoie will honor Davey Allison at the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sept. 3 (6 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

LaJoie’s No. 23 Dr Pepper-sponsored Toyota Camry throwback for Darlington Raceway was unveiled Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The scheme will mirror the red-and-white No. 23 Miller High Life car Allison drove in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (then Busch Series) in 1984 and 1985.

“I’ve been super, super lucky in my career to get where I’m at with BK Racing and the opportunity they’re giving me,” LaJoie told NASCAR.com. “I would have never thought I’d make it this far. I’m one of the lucky few that is actually getting an opportunity in NASCAR, especially to be carrying a Davey Allison scheme at Darlington for the Southern 500. It’s like, pinch me a little bit, because it’s crazy.”

Over the span of 191 races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Allison earned 19 victories from 1985 through July 1993.

On July 13, 1993, Allison’s rapid success in NASCAR was cut short after he died from head injuries suffered in a helicopter crash while attempting to land in the Talladega Superspeedway infield.

What makes this paint scheme even more special for LaJoie is how much he has in common with Davey Allison. LaJoie forged his path by working for his father, two-time NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Randy LaJoie, at The Joie of Seating, which builds high performance aluminum seats for drivers.

Similarly, Bobby Allison wouldn’t let his son, Davey, drive a race car until he had graduated from high school and worked in the shop on his father’s car.

Two different father-son duos. Same old-school work ethic.

“That’s how I grew up,” LaJoie said. “You were in the shop building your car. If the car wasn’t ready, it was your own fault that you weren’t at the track that week.”

After racing the BK Racing No. 83 Toyota Camry for his first 14 races of the 2017 season, LaJoie assumed the driver role for the No. 23 at Daytona in July.

“I’ve had a lot of ups-and-downs this year, but I’m getting better every week,” LaJoie said. “The team is building good cars every week. If we could put a whole race together, we could run fairly well.”

NASCAR’s Labor Day throwback weekend will serve as LaJoie’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington.

“First time ever going around it, so it’s going to be a little bit of a learning curve,” LaJoie said. “It’s probably going to be like everywhere els — I’ll figure it out a quarter of the way through the race and then try to make up that at the end of the race.

“You try to prepare as much as you can by watching race tape and simulators, but nothing compares to doing it yourself,” LaJoie added. “It’s the Lady in Black, so she’ll beat you.”