LaJoie's car 'performed exactly how it should' in Michigan rollover
Corey LaJoie spent time at the NASCAR R&D Center looking over his damaged Chevrolet following his flip last weekend in Michigan, and said everything performed as it should have in that situation.
LaJoie was unhurt when Spire Motorsports Chevrolet got airborne on its own after spinning on the backstretch at Michigan International Speedway. There appeared to have been minimal contact with Noah Gragson, who LaJoie had made a run on and moved to the inside before his car spun to the left. Once the car lifted, it came down on its roof and slid down the pavement before hitting the grass, doing another rotation and landing on its wheels.
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“All the guys that were there (at the R&D Center) that could have explained it to me – in probably way more scientific terms than I could understand – had come down to Daytona already,” LaJoie said on Friday. “I haven’t had a chance to connect with those guys; it was just [John] Patalak. So, I looked at more of the interior stuff – the halo bars, the mouthpiece sensor data, stuff like that to get an idea. The car performed exactly how it should in the event of a roll.”
In recounting the flip earlier this week on his podcast ‘Stacking Pennies’, LaJoie said the crash registered 30Gs. Following its review of the crash, NASCAR mandated teams to add a new right-side window air deflector for Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. It is a part that has been wind tunnel tested.
Per NASCAR, the component increases the liftoff speed of the car in the early part of the spin. The part was supplied to the teams by NASCAR and matches what is already run on the left side rear window.
“I guess I can own a piece of addition to the Next Gen car like the Petty bar, the Newman bar,” LaJoie said. “They got the LaJoie fin now in the right-side glass. I’m just an innovator. Just trying to innovate and make these cars safe.”
LaJoie wears a mouthpiece sensor every week because he’s interested in the safety aspect of the sport, and participates in as many meetings as he can with NASCAR. Last weekend was also not the first time he’s found himself in a real-world test of the various safety upgrades NASCAR has implemented over the years: he was involved in Ryan Newman’s vicious 2020 crash in Daytona, and his car was turned on its side at Talladega earlier this season.
“It’s a really solid car,” LaJoie said. “I knew the seats and belts and their strengths and everything going to be around us; we worked really hard to get our cars comfy and safe. So, everything did exactly what it was supposed to do.”
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