How big is the Daytona 500? LaJoie bet his kids' college fund on a chance to make the NASCAR race
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Corey LaJoie so badly wanted to race in the Daytona 500 that he gambled his children's college fund to secure a seat in 'The Great American Race.'
LaJoie was let go last season from Spire Motorsports and closed out the year driving the final six races with Rick Ware Racing with no promise of 2025 work. Ware was willing to field a second car at Daytona International Speedway, but it would be a driver who brought the financial funding for the effort.
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NBC Sports
9 hours ago
- NBC Sports
Even with reminders nearby, Michigan is a chance for Ricky Stenhouse Jr., team to move ahead
BROOKLYN, Mich. — A week after Carson Hocevar's contact wrecked Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Nashville, they have talked, but the impact of the incident remains. Just look in the garage this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Their teams share a garage stall, just as they are next to each other in the points standings. Stenhouse said Friday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that after talking with Hocevar 'I definitely see where he was thinking that he could get to the inside of me before we turned down into the corner (at Nashville). Problem was he didn't.' Nate Ryan, Stenhouse's crew chief, Mike Kelley, spoke with Ryan Sparks, competition director at Spire Motorsports about Hocevar early in the week. Luke Lambert, crew chief for Hocevar, called Kelley this week. 'I don't have disrespect for Carson,' Kelley told NBC Sports on Friday at Michigan. 'I know he's an upcoming talent, and I've been in the sport long enough to know that he is, he's got something special. … I told Luke this on the phone the other night when he called me was it's how you handle yourself after the fact. 'I would have been just as upset if he would have got out and said, 'Man, I'm so sorry I wrecked Ricky.' That's not what I was expecting. 'I was maybe expecting for him to say that he needed to look at it and he would get with Ricky. I would have thought he would have at least called Ricky a lot sooner than he did. But he did call Ricky and they spoke. Ricky called me and said he felt like it was sincere and felt that we could forward from here and they could race.' Dustin Long, As a result of the Nashville incident, Stenhouse fell from 13th to 18th in the standings — and out of a playoff spot — when he finished 39th and scored one point at Nashville. Kyle Busch holds the final playoff spot. Stenhouse trails Busch by six points. Stenhouse is one of five drivers (including Hocevar) outside a playoff spot within 13 points of Busch. 'Our mulligan is gone,' Kelley said. Four of the remaining 11 races in the regular season after Sunday's event at Michigan are at a road or street course. Stenhouse has two top-10 finishes in 43 career Cup road course/street course races. Two of the remaining 11 races in the regular season are at drafting tracks. While all four of Stenhouse's career Cup wins are at such style of tracks, there's also a greater chance to be collected in an incident in those events. That's what makes scoring only one point at Nashville hurt for Stenhouse and his team. Since last year, Stenhouse has averaged 17 points per race at a road or street course. Compare that to the drafting tracks. Since last year, he's averaged 28.7 points at drafting tracks, which includes a win at Talladega. Kelley acknowledges the challenges of road and street courses for the team. 'We don't race on dreams and hopes,' Kelley said. 'We look at our weakest links and try to make them better and try and get the most out of every day. We look at road course races as, 'Look, most of these guys are going to wreck the (expletive) out of each other at the end of this thing. So let's get all the stage points we can in the middle and then we'll capitalize on the finishes at the end.' That's how we look at it and that's how we race it.' Because every point matters. 'We do look at points because the end result for our race team, the end of the season, there are point-specific items that we need to hit and targets and goals that we have,' Kelley said. 'One is top 20 and one is top 25 in (car owner) points because that where NASCAR quits paying (bonuses at the end of the season). All those things matter. 'If someone says what happened to us at Nashville doesn't matter, come see me after Phoenix (at the end of the year). We finished 25th in points by (six) points last year and I think they said that was $600,000. So, if you don't think $600,000 matters to some people, I guarantee you it does. 'But there's also a pride thing. We had done everything we felt like we could do all year long to keep ourselves in position. At weeks we've had decent enough pace to do what we need to do and other weeks Ricky's just done a really good job of managing our car and we've called good races. We were realistically 13th in points last week and had I just averaged 20 points, I'd be 13th in points today. 'Does that get me in (the playoffs)? Probably not, but it keeps me in the game. It keeps me in the thing. My wife explained it to me Tuesday morning about 5 a.m., she said, 'If you would have asked me in January that you were three or four points out of the cutoff 14 races in, would you be happy then?' I said, yeah, for sure. She goes, 'Then don't worry about where you're at now, just keep looking ahead.' So that's all we're doing.' ☎️ "After Carson called me this week, I definitely see where he was thinking." Ricky @StenhouseJr addresses last Sunday's incident with @CarsonHocevar leading into @MISpeedway this weekend. #NASCAR More from the @HYAKMotorsports driver → .@CarsonHocevar on conversations within @SpireMotorsport about his on track actions following his incident with the No. 47 on Sunday night ⬇️ 🗣️ "Have less moments of that and more moments of passing the other 25 cars without hitting any of them." 🎧:
Newsweek
12 hours ago
- Newsweek
Spire Boss Takes Parental Tone with Carson Hocevar After Nashville Clash
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson has revealed a unique parental approach to deal with his 22-year-old driver, Carson Hocevar, who crashed into the rear of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s car in Nashville. Hocevar has made news in the world of NASCAR through his stellar performances, but his aggressive driving doesn't go unnoticed. Hocevar finished the Cracker Barrel 400 in second place despite the incident, while Stenhouse Jr. came last. What made Stenhouse Jr. more furious was the fact that Hocevar did not approach him after the race, and thus, the Hyak Motorsports driver hinted at a payback in the future. Stenhouse Jr. even escalated the matter to Dickerson. Dickerson made it clear to Hocevar that the clash was unnecessary. Speaking on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, he said: Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on May 31, 2025 in Lebanon, Tennessee. Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, looks on during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway on May 31, 2025 in Lebanon, Tennessee."Full transparency here's what I said: 'Man, you didn't need to do that. You know, you just didn't need to do that.' It wasn't going to cost him anything to let Ricky back in line." He added: "I just wish he would have cut him a break. I have a personal relationship with Ricky, and so I don't want that to cloud it. I'm like, 'S**t man.'" Dickerson then admitted that he counsels Hocevar like a parent. Revealing his mature approach that most likely offers his driver a unique perspective, he said: "There's plenty of times I go to Carson and I'm just like, '35-year-old Carson is not going to be cool with what you just did, or what you just said.' This isn't a Carson thing I think it's in general, they're too young to know that it's cool to be like, 'Man, I f***ed that up.' Know what I'm saying? "And that's where I wish they would help themselves more. But again, I want to teach Carson how it is, quote, unquote. "I'm not trying to change him. I certainly don't want to get in car-crashing contests out there, right? And Ricky to me is a guy that, like, he's not going to wreck our car, he's going to go beat the hell out of him. You know what I'm saying? Which is how it probably should be, you know what I mean? But you can't get it until you go through it, right? So, it's like being a parent, sometimes your kid just wants to shut his hand in the car door to see if it hurts, right? Sometimes you just gotta let them."
NBC Sports
a day ago
- NBC Sports
Questions, answers about appeal court ruling in NASCAR's favor in matter with 23XI, Front Row
Here is a breakdown of Thursday's court decision and its impact: WHAT HAPPENED THURSDAY? A three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled to vacate the preliminary injunction that a U.S. District court judge had granted 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to run as chartered teams despite not signing the charter agreement. HOW DOES THURSDAY'S DECISION IMPACT MATTERS THIS WEEKEND AT MICHIGAN? It does not in any way. WHY? 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports can file a petition for rehearing (requesting the court reconsider its decision) or a petition for rehearing en banc —meaning the full Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals addresses the matters instead of the three-judge panel. This must be filed within 14 calendar days after entry of judgment (June 5). So that would put the deadline at June 19. IF THE TEAMS DO NOT SEEK A REHEARING, THEN WHAT HAPPENS? The decision by the three-judge panel becomes effective seven days after the expiration of time for filing a petition for rehearing. In this matter, that would mean the panel's decision could become effective on June 26 — two days before the Atlanta race. WHAT HAPPENS IN THAT SITUATION? The 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports cars would be classified as open cars instead of chartered cars. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THEIR CHARTERS? That would be up to NASCAR. SO 23XI RACING AND FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS COULD CONCEIVABLY FAIL TO QUALIFY FOR RACES IF THEY LOST THEIR CHARTERS? If they were an open team, yes, but, in the 50 races since the start of last year, only two — the Daytona 500 last year and this year — had any cars fail to qualify. BUT BOTH TEAMS WOULD EARN LESS MONEY AS AN OPEN TEAM, CORRECT? Yes, but before one goes too far down this road, let's see what 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports decide to do after today's court opinion. For now, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports remain chartered teams and their six cars are all chartered cars. WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE FROM THE TEAMS THURSDAY? This is the statement from Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports: 'We are disappointed by today's ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and are reviewing the decision to determine our next steps. This ruling is based on a very narrow consideration of whether a release of claims in the charter agreements is anti-competitive and does not impact our chances of winning at trial scheduled for December 1. We remain confident in our case and committed to racing for the entirety of this season as we continue our fight to create a fair and just economic system for stock car racing that is free of anticompetitive, monopolistic conduct.' WHAT DID THE THREE-JUDGE PANEL STATE IN ITS OPINION? 'In entering a preliminary injunction in this case, the district court held that the plaintiffs (23XI and Front Row) were likely to succeed on the merits of their antitrust action against the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR), and its CEO, James France, because NASCAR, as an alleged monopolist, required the plaintiffs, as a condition of doing business with them, to enter into a release for past conduct. Because that theory of antitrust law is not supported by any case of which we are aware, we conclude that it was not a likely basis for success on the merits and vacate the injunction.' The judges later stated in their opinion … 'In short, because we have found no support for the proposition that a business entity or person violates the antitrust laws by requiring a prospective participant to give a release for past conduct as a condition for doing business, we cannot conclude that the plaintiffs made a clear showing that they were likely to succeed on the merits of that theory. And without satisfaction of the likelihood-of-success element, the plaintiffs were not entitled to a preliminary injunction. … We therefore conclude that the district court abused its discretion in entering the preliminary injunction that it did. HOW DOES THIS IMPACT THE LAWSUIT 23XI RACING AND FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS FILED LAST YEAR VS. NASCAR? It does not. Trial is scheduled for Dec. 1.
