Corey LaJoie finished in the top 10 for the first time on a non-drafting track in his near-decade-long Cup Series career.

Without a seat for 2025, this might just have been the departing Spire Motorsports driver’s last hurrah in the #7 car. At least, one that could’ve resulted in a guaranteed shot at the championship had it been him in place of Briscoe on that final green flag run, although his recent outings haven’t exactly looked win-worthy, to say the least. Besides, to have a hard-charging Kyle Busch in his rear mirror wouldn’t be a pleasant thought for LaJoie after that incident at Pocono earlier this year. 

Regardless, overwhelmed by the emotions of a P9 finish, LaJoie made quite the noise with his post-race comments to Stephen Stumpf of Frontstretch. And the fans are doing more than just “chirping” back at the 32-year-old’s condescending statements.

No ride in 2025? Corey LaJoie’s cocky claims after surprise top-10

Chase Briscoe made history by winning his first Southern 500, driving Tony Stewart’s former #14, and effectively locking himself into the playoffs. Likewise, Tyler Reddick won 23XI Racing their first regular-season championship after only four years of the team’s existence. His team owner, Denny Hamlin, made history by becoming the only premier series driver to make the Playoffs every year since its inception. But amid all these stellar records made at Darlington this past Sunday, Corey LaJoie managed a P9 at Darlington.

To put things into fair perspective, this is LaJoie’s second top-10 finish of the season. His first came with a P4 at the season-opening Daytona 500. In between those two dates, Corey LaJoie has finished outside the top 20 seventeen times in total. With the playoff field, LaJoie stands 32nd in the regular season points standings. His other notable headlines were sending Kyle Busch sliding across the racetrack at Pocono, which handed Rowdy his fifth DNF of the season. Alongside that, LaJoie made news for flipping his car in Michigan a few weeks ago, which interestingly resulted in only the second DNF for LaJoie in 2024. In July, Spire announced he would no longer be driving the #7 in 2025.

Hence, it was surprising when LaJoie told Stephen Stumpf, after his P9: “We’ve been in plenty of spots in the top ten… There’s a lot of people chirping, but nonetheless, I’m gonna get paid for that place tonight and my phone’s gonna keep ringing when people want me to drive their car.” It is important to note that before LaJoie finished inside the top-10 at Darlington, he had finished 22nd and 23rd in both stages. But after the Lady in Black came alive under the lights to cause chaos in the last lap with four incidental cautions, the #7 car moved up in track position.

Now, only ten races remain for LaJoie and the Spire association, which started back in 2021. Teams like Kaulig and Rick Ware Racing had been in the mix earlier as potential destinations for the Charlotte native in 2025. But with LaJoie’s bold comments at Darlington, the NASCAR community is not happy about his lack of humility in the background of an unsure future.

Comments after Darlington backfire big-time

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For someone who’s found himself on the butt end of a bad joke way too many times this year, fans that speculate LaJoie’s permanent departure from NASCAR aren’t too kind about the man’s situation. Many discuss hypothetical future occupations for the son of Randy LaJoie, a 2x Busch Series champion. As a result, when the #7 driver’s video interview made its way onto the NASCAR subreddit, one fan wrote, “Just put my chili’s in the bag bro”

Others were understandably mad that LaJoie “can’t even be humble about having a good night.” A certain member of the NASCAR grandstands, who goes by the moniker u/HermDog04 on Reddit, elaborated on that further. “This is exactly why people have soured on Corey,” they said. “He finally, after 8 years in Cup, gets a top 10 on a non-drafting track and starts “chirping”. Bro, both of your rookie teammates have already done that MULTIPLE times this season.”

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A notable few talked about Corey’s self-confidence and opined “he’s always had an ego far bigger than his daddy’s shoes.” That group even brought up LaJoie’s hand-written letter to Rick Hendrick in 2020, which demanded a shot at the #48 car, after Jimmie Johnson’s retirement. This fan mentioned, “Yeah. he has THAT big of an ego.”

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Another joked, “Dude’s an idi-t. Uber doesn’t call when there’s a ride available. You have to claim it in the app.” LaJoie might be off from the Cup Series in 2025. But he served as a true pioneer for Spire Motorsports in its initial days. Maybe none of it was meant to be for both parties in the grander scheme of things. However, one thing’s for sure: NASCAR will surely feel Corey LaJoie’s absence if he’s not around next year.