The Silly Season is not over for the NASCAR Cup Series. Spire Motorsports has to find a replacement for Corey LaJoie. If Spire doesn’t act quickly, 2025 could be a shaky season with a driver not much better than LaJoie.
Spire Motorsports announced that they were parting ways with LaJoie at the end of the season. He has been the anchor of that organization for the last four seasons. During that time, he had improved in each season, until this year.
The numbers have not improved for LaJoie despite extra funding for Spire. Now, the team is looking to replace him with a driver that will actually improve their program.
Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic was on Dale Jr. Download: Reloaded and shared information on who is likely to land in the No. 7 car in 2025.
“The names that we’re looking at for the 7 car, one name to really keep an eye on is Justin Haley,” Bianchi explained. “There’s a lot of things intertwined behind the scenes that are kind of just unfolding but I would say Justin Haley’s the leading contender over there. There’s also another driver and I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying his name right now but he is in the Cup Series and that’s also someone else to keep an eye on.”
Justin Haley drove for Spire Motorsports in the past. In fact, he has the only win in organization history, a rain-shortened victory in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. Shout out to Kurt Busch for pitting and that caution coming out at the right time.
So, it does make sense, especially with how Haley has raced for Rick Ware in 2024, that Spire would be interested.
Justin Haley to Spire Motorsports?
Before the Olympic break, NASCAR had made it through 22 races in the regular season. During that time, Haley had a tale of two halves. Since Dover, the potential LaJoie replacement has been on another level.
Through the first 11 races of the season, Haley had an average finish of 26.9 with a best finish of P17. Not great. That included one disqualification, too, which happened at COTA.
Ever since Dover, in the 11 races following, Haley has taken it up a notch. Spire Motorsports has likely noticed. Between Kansas and Indianapolis, Haley had an average finish of 18.54 and two top-10 finishes. Those top-10 finishes, both P9, are the best non-superspeedway finishes ever for Rick Ware Racing.
This season has been major for Justin Haley. Spire Motorsports seems a bit lost at the moment, maybe made the LaJoie decision too quickly. But if they hire Haley, it could be good news. For what it’s worth, Haley earned a top-10 on a non-drafting track for Spire in 2021 at the Indy Road Course. Something LaJoie has not done.
