NASCAR star set for Cup Series return after time in TV booth

A former NASCAR star-turned analyst via Prime Video is set to make his return to the NASCAR Cup Series.

Corey LaJoie has been out of full-time racing since the end of the 2024 season, having been involved in a mid-season team switch in that last full-time year.

Since then, the 33-year-old has been racing part-time in both the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series, and has now been confirmed to be on Rick Ware Racing's roster for the upcoming Quaker State 400.

This weekend's race at the Atlanta EchoPark Speedway will see LaJoie ditch his microphone for his racing gloves and helmet once more, and he suggested that the track is a personal favourite of his.

"Now that I’m back in the seat, I’m going to enjoy it," LaJoie said this week. "I really like the atmosphere at Rick Ware Racing, and now we’re going back to a place where I’ve been close to winning before. It’s a great opportunity for me to run well and have some fun."

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LaJoie's honest admission

While the North Carolina-born LaJoie has been enjoying his time with Prime Video, he opened up about the reasons for his move away from the cut and thrust of full-time racing.

"Driving the race car can be a really lonely place," he admitted. "You have all this weight of expectations to deliver for your team and your sponsors and yourself and your fans, and when you feel like you’re not doing that, it feels like everybody is looking at you.

"But what I realized these last five weeks during my time on Prime, I’m intently watching the race, but I’m really only focused on three guys’ races. The other guys who are there grinding away, unless they somehow factor into the main storylines of the race, they’re not top of mind.

"Before this opportunity to see the race from a TV perspective, I would feel like if I wasn’t running well, then I was letting a lot of people down. I think that I cared too much, and I would hold the outcome too tightly, as opposed to just enjoying it when I was doing it."

LaJoie will now get the chance to try and secure only his 12th ever Cup Series top-10 finish, and will race in the No. 01 Rick Ware Racing Ford.

It will be LaJoie's fourth Cup Series entry of the season, and his best result in 2025 is a 22nd-place finish at the Daytona 500.

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