1. Will the Spire Motorsports-Rick Ware Racing trade work out?
Although it was already reported, rumored, and/or theorized that Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley would be essentially swapping seats next season, an out-and-out trade for the remainder of 2024 was a big surprise.
LaJoie is leaving Spire Motorsports after almost four seasons. At one point, his reliability and experience proved vital for the then young team. But, ultimately, he wasn’t going to get the team to that next level that they want to get to.
His move to Rick Ware Racing is a chance to prove everybody wrong on that account.
Haley leaves Ware as its best statistical driver in history, in spite of just 28 starts with the team. There has been plenty of talk recently about him being connected to Hendrick Motorsports, which this move supports as Spire is an engine customer of HMS.
His move back to Spire is a chance to go from a perpetually up-and-coming driver to a top driver for a growing team.
NASCAR teams typically don’t promote moves like this as a “trade.” It speaks volumes as to just how good of terms both drivers are leaving their previous team on.
The closest to this was in 2003, when Steve Park was released from Dale Earnhardt Incorporated at the same time Jeff Green was released from Richard Childress Racing early in the season. Both drivers took the other’s ride, with both cars being Chevrolets powered by Earnhardt Childress engines.
The move was immortalized in the legendary NASCAR Thunder 2004. To this day, even though I know Park was most famous for driving the No. 1 car, I still think of him in the No. 30 because of that game.
2. Will Ty Norris build up Kaulig Racing?
It was confirmed this week that Ty Norris would be leaving Trackhouse Racing to take a job working for Kaulig Racing.
Norris has been around the NASCAR industry for over 30 years at this point. He was a key driving force behind the rise of DEI in the early 2000’s, Michael Waltrip Racing in the early 2010’s, and now Trackhouse in the early 2020’s.
Norris’ next stop will be Kaulig Racing, a team that is at an interesting crossroads next season. It seemed to me that the team was building up with Haley in the years prior to 2023, before they suddenly dropped him for 2024 in favor of Daniel Hemric.
Next year, things will be different. The multi-driver lineup of the No. 16 will be replaced with just AJ Allmendinger, while Hemric will reportedly be…
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