LaJoie, who drives the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, was entering the tri-oval as the eighth car back in the outside line.
When Michael McDowell crashed from the lead after a failed double block for the win, the field scattered and spun in every direction..
LaJoie moved out of line, missing McDowell as he attempted to follow Todd Gilliland through the smoke. Unfortunately, he was pushed up into the wreck as Carson Hocevar and Ryan Preece tangled to his inside.
LaJoie’s car was pinned between the Stewart-Haas Racing drivers of Josh Berry and Preece. The car dug into the left-rear of Berry’s car, which began to lift both cars off the ground.
LaJoie’s car turned upside down and was actually sandwiched between the SHR cars for a couple of seconds. Berry’s car sat back down on the wheels soon after, but LaJoie was not so lucky. The race remained green as the leaders scrambled toward the the finish line.
Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images
The car then turned back on its side, pinned against the wall with the driver-side door resting on the track. Despite this, it continued its forward momentum, remaining up against the wall due to LaJoie’s teammate Hocevar. Intertwined, the two cars crossed the finish line together with LaJoie’s car still on its side and against the wall. The caution was out by this point and LaJoie was scored in the 18th position.
Photo by: David Rosenblum / NKP / Motorsport Images
The ordeal finally ended as the two Spire Motorsports Chevrolets became dislodged after the checkered flag with the No. 7 completely rolling over before finally coming to a rest on its wheels. The entire wreck lasted about 15 seconds and Lajoie was uninjured. It was the first airborne wreck of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
LaJoie said of the incident: “I was actually kind of getting cleared. I was behind the No. 38 [Gilliland]. Saw him kind of wounded, but I kind of aimed for him because I felt like that was my best chance of getting through it and then got hit in the left-rear. The next thing I knew, my left-side door was on the ground and it was a lot of sparks. And then it flipped over on the roof and then it flipped over on the flat, and slid past the start-finish line.”
When asked how he was felling, LaJoie admitted: “My back’s a little tight, but my pride is probably hurt more than anything just because we come here and we want to have a good day and we did not.”
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