NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie is back at Five Flags Speedway (FL), where he will compete in the 52nd Annual Snowball Derby presented by BJ’s for his first Super Late Model appearance in nearly two years.
LaJoie competed in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2019, driving for Go Fas Racing, and recently signed an extension to return to the team for the 2020 season. While LaJoie is now in the Cup offseason, he is excited to return to the biggest event in Super Late Model racing for the first time since 2017, driving for Jamie Yelton’s Fat Head Racing,
“I’m excited, man. It’s been a while since I drove a Super,” LaJoie told Speed51. “I’m excited to get back down there. The last time I was there, we were really good and broke a track bar real late in the race. I thought we had a top-three car. Hopefully we can go back down there, get it driving good and contend for a good run.”
While LaJoie returns to the Pensacola, Florida half-mile with his Cup experience under his belt, he knows it will be no easy feat to challenge some of the best Super Late Model racers in the country at their own game.
“It’s hard to race against those guys like Ty [Majeski], Bubba [Pollard], Casey Roderick, all those guys who have been racing all year. They’ve got their act together. We’ve got to make sure we’re loaded for bear when we get down there.”
LaJoie is confident he can reacclimate himself with the Super Late Model quickly. However, he knows that the abrasive racing surface found at Five Flags Speedway makes tire conservation a much larger factor than he’s used to on Sundays.
“I’ll get back used to the car pretty quick. Learning to pace tires will be something that I’ll have to come back and be a little more conscious about that. In the Cup cars, you’re racing those radials and the entire run is qualifying laps as hard as you can go. You don’t save a whole lot there. None of those surfaces are as abrasive as Pensacola. I’ll be up to speed within five laps, it’ll just be a matter of getting the car dialed in to compete with the guys who really have their stuff dialed in good.”
Most importantly, LaJoie is hungry for a victory in the Tom Dawson Trophy. He has shown plenty of speed in past trips to the marquee event, but is still looking to close the deal.
“I keep saying I’m going to keep going down there until I win one. I keep getting closer each and every time. I’ve broken a couple of times, and another time we just didn’t have our stuff together. Hopefully this time, we can get down there and get close. If I can see the front near the end of that thing, I’m going to make something happen.”
Race fans eager to see LaJoie compete in the 52nd Annual Snowball Derby can order tickets for the event now by calling the track office at 850-944-8400 or visiting 5flagsspeedway.com. Act quickly, as only a handful of seats remain and they will be sold soon.
Fans unable to make the trip to Pensacola can order pay-per-view tickets for Speed51’s broadcast of the event. four-day passes and Individual video tickets can be purchased now by clicking here.
For more information on the 52nd Annual Snowball Derby, visit Speed51’s Snowball Central.
-Story by: Zach Evans, Speed51 Southeast Editor – Twitter: @ztevans
-Photo credit: Speed51 photo