Key Points
- Corey LaJoie leaked news about Daniel Suarez joining Spire’s No. 7 car in 2026.
- Spire CEO Jeff Dickerson acknowledged LaJoie’s comments and discussed future driver plans.
- Larry McReynolds noted tensions between LaJoie and Spire on his SiriusXM show.
Corey LaJoie started it all on his Oct. 15 Stacking Pennies podcast when he revealed some NASCAR Cup Series breaking news.
“Yeah, I mean, the 7 car gets another victim,” LaJoie said. “I really do hate that for him because he went from driving the 48 car. He was in the pipeline for that to now he doesn’t have a seat.
“I obviously have a lot of behind-the-scenes information on how all that stuff went down, but I think Justin (Haley) is better than what this year has shown. And that is a dumpster fire over at the moment with that 7 team in particular. So, it seems like (Daniel) Suarez is gonna—when the music stops—is gonna be in that seat.”
“Damn. What are you just leaking information right here?” podcast co-host Skip Flores asked.
“Sure. I don’t care,” the former Cup Series driver responded. “It’s like if you’ve got sponsorship and you can plug it in somewhere and it’s the best available seat, then that’s just where you plug your money and you keep getting your fun tokens and drive around in circles.”
Spire CEO Responds
On Oct. 22, Spire confirmed in a press conference that Suarez would be driving the No. 7 Chevrolet in 2026. SiriusXM NASCAR reporter Lee Spencer caught up with CEO Jeff Dickerson and asked him what he thought of LaJoie’s harsh remarks.
“Well, I’ve got a lot of respect for Corey,” Dickerson said. “He’s been there. He’s been through it with us. I mean, you guys saw the eligibility stuff just came out yesterday and so we’re trying to work through that a little bit. But I’m just crazy enough, it’s just like I wouldn’t mind seeing how many Carson (Hocevar) can do. You know, he’s still just a kid. Dump him out there. You let him get laps.
“If Daniel wants to run a couple or if Michael (McDowell) wants to run a couple, we can do that too. And, hope to have Kyle Busch back and the two or three Hendrick guys that wanna participate with us sometimes. And so I think it’ll look pretty similar.”
Following Dickerson’s comments, SXM co-host Danielle Trotta asked Larry McReynolds what he thought of both the former driver and team owner’s remarks.
“Well, as far as Corey, I felt like Corey threw kind of one or two punches below the belt and Jeff countered with a couple of punches below the belt,” America’s Crew Chief noted. “But that’s here nor there. I do agree that Jeff and them are growing.”
That includes growing apart from LaJoie and not working with him in the future.
About the author
Kyle Dalton
NASCAR Writer, Athlon Sports