Corey LaJoie had multiple options on the table for the upcoming 2025 NASCAR season. Ultimately, he chose a path that will put him in new territory.
LaJoie will compete in a limited Cup Series schedule for Rick Ware Racing, piloting the No. 01 Ford in 2025 while creating the Stacking Pennies Performance Brand. He will also serve as a race analyst for Prime Video’s five Cup Series races, beginning on Memorial Day Weekend for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and concluding June 22 at Pocono Raceway.
STACKING PENNIES: Listen to the podcast episode here
“The Amazon piece is one of the reasons why this year is going to look a little bit different,” LaJoie told NASCAR.com. “When those guys were pursuing me towards the end of last year, I felt like there were things that were materializing in my life and doors that were opening from the Lord to allow me to see that there are other things that I can do outside of being a full-time Cup driver.
“My entire racing life, since I was 7 years old, I’ve been blindly focused on being a competitive race-winning Cup Series driver. I’ve worked and leveraged and did everything with that clear vision in mind. The way this past year went and the way my cards were dealt of not being in the right system at the right time, you can always Monday morning quarterback it because hindsight is always 20/20 as far as what you would change. But I think everything happened for a reason with the way my career had gone up to this point.”
With seven races remaining in the 2024 season, Spire Motorsports and RWR made an in-season trade that saw Justin Haley take over the No. 7 car, the seat LaJoie had piloted for nearly four years. LaJoie replaced Haley in the No. 51 Ford, but RWR announced in mid-January that Cody Ware would run the full 2025 campaign for the family-run operation. The team is leasing its second charter to RFK Racing in 2025, meaning RWR’s second car is an open entry and must qualify on time for races.
After he tied the best finish (fourth) of his Cup career in the season-opening Daytona 500, LaJoie experienced a 2024 slump that saw him in dust-ups with multiple Cup champions, including Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson. He got back on track late in the summer, scoring top-10 finishes at Darlington Raceway and Watkins Glen International, where all three Spire cars cracked the top 10 for the first time in team history.
For 2025, LaJoie also didn’t want to get in the way of team owner Rick Ware putting Cody full-time in the No. 51 Ford. After leaving a discussion with Ware, he went into a meeting with the head of talent at Amazon and confirmed he wasn’t going to drive the full season. LaJoie was hired after one interview.
“With the Amazon guys knocking on my door and I had fallen out of love with the sport a bit and became disenchanted with the sport, I was looking for ways to love it again,” LaJoie said. “I’ve never not liked it; it’s kind of like a marriage. There are days where you don’t like each other, but you always love each other, and that’s how my last 16 months of my career have been.”
In launching the Stacking Pennies Performance Brand, LaJoie sought after driving the No. 01 car to distance himself from anything that involved the No. 7. The value of a penny is 1 cent.
The idea of creating the Stacking Pennies Performance Brand stemmed from LaJoie’s “Stacking Pennies Podcast,” which is among NASCAR’s most popular podcasts. The idea is akin to Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91, which will include merchandise and social media content.
“For me, it’s a proof of concept of the branding and how we want to treat our partners, how our cars look and bringing people to the race track,” LaJoie said.
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LaJoie understands he could be the modern-day Neil Bonnett, who was frequently in the media landscape while competing. His first time in the No. 01 will be this year’s Daytona 500 attempt (Feb. 16, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), a race in which he has three top-10 finishes in the last five contests. LaJoie will be sponsored by DuraMAX and Take 5 Oil Change during the event.
While LaJoie is focused on happiness and being the best at his multiple roles this season, he knows that once the season shifts into high gear, it might get tough.
“It doesn’t surprise me that my career isn’t what I thought it was going to be,” LaJoie said. “I envisioned being wheel to wheel with those guys a decade ago, and those guys got in the system, evolved and developed and became champions. I’ve had to just play the cards that I was dealt. Sometimes, I didn’t play them very well. I’m man enough to admit that. When you have a year as [expletive] as we did last year, you’re going to get fired. I wish there were some things that we could have changed internally before we cut off the snake.
“The last three months have been like a faith walk. I’m not sure where the destination is going to be, but the short-term destination is going to be the Daytona 500 with an 01 Stacking Pennies Performance Ford Mustang.”