Corey LaJoie’s Darlington performance draws attention of NASCAR Hall of Famer

You know by now that Corey LaJoie's whole mantra is "stacking pennies," but on Sunday night at Darlington, he collected a "Mark." Consistently running in the top 10 in Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway before ultimately settling for 15th, the No. 7 Spire Motorsports driver earned some recognition from Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the NBC Sports broadcast, but Junior wasn't the only NASCAR Hall of Famer to take notice. https://twitter.com/CoreyLaJoie/status/1434718017909362692 It's not the first time the 29-year-old has drawn praise from 40-time Cup Series winner Mark Martin -- far from it, actually. Turns out, Martin has been closely following the 2012 NASCAR Next class member's rise through the ranks for nearly a decade. https://twitter.com/markmartin/status/363427305516843009 https://twitter.com/markmartin/status/1146472550114848771 https://twitter.com/markmartin/status/1142165505010065409 https://twitter.com/markmartin/status/1223417010383736833 Whatever books LaJoie is digging into seem to be helping, as he's enjoying a career-best average finish in 2021 for a Spire Motorsports organization that continues to build piece-by-piece and should be one to watch in the Next Gen era starting next season. LaJoie has now turned in three straight top-16 finishes for the first time in his career after notching three straight top 20s for the first time from Charlotte to Nashville earlier this season. https://twitter.com/CoreyLaJoie/status/1434709969635577857