Story by: Charles Hudson(PR from Rockingham Speedway)
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (April 18, 2009) – Corey LaJoie followed in his father’s tread marks Saturday at Rockingham Speedway, snaring his first-ever UARA victory at the track where father Randy LaJoie clinched one of his two NASCAR Busch Series championships in the late 1990s.
“This is an awesome place to get a first win!” an ecstatic Corey LaJoie said. “I remember sitting in victory lane in ’96 or ’97. I was probably five or six, sitting on his shoulders in victory lane when he clinched the championship here. So it’s cool to win here, especially having earned my way here. It was an awesome opportunity that Eddie Sharp gave me and I’m thankful for it.”
It was, indeed, a Cinderella story for the young LaJoie who crashed his car during a test at the 1-mile track earlier this year.
“I came here three months ago, built a brand-new (Steve) Leavitt car, broke a left rear hub and totaled it,” LaJoie explained. “I was like, ‘Oh, hell. What am I going to do now? I have no race car?’ I was here with the ARCA cars and Eddie’s (Sharp) team felt bad for me. He said, ‘I tell you what. I’ve got a Late Model; it’s just a sitting chassis with a body on it. If you get it ready, you’ll run it at Rockingham.’
“I drove up there (to Denver, N.C.) an hour every day, trying to get that thing ready and get it dialed in. The first laps on that thing were the first laps on Friday. Ain’t the normal way to do it, but it’s the way we had to do it. We didn’t have a choice.”
Randy LaJoie admitted he was “way proud” of his son’s victory.
“I’m just happy for the kid,” LaJoie said. “He’s worked very hard. Built a new car for himself and built the one of Eddie’s. I’m just very proud of him.”
It was clear from the beginning the battle for the race victory would be between LaJoie’s Chevrolet and Paddy Rodenbeck’s Dodge. The two rode nose-to-tail for most of the event, then broke into a side-by-side, fender-to-fender duel in the final 10 laps. A late-race caution forced the event to 79 laps from the originally scheduled 70 and into a green-white-checker finish with LaJoie holding off Rodenbeck for a 0.337 victory.
“Paddy Rodenbeck was fast,” Randy LaJoie said. “He wasn’t scared to use eight tires through the corners. The longer they went the better Corey got. But on the short runs, the (No.) 81 (Rodenbeck) was fast and he wasn’t afraid to lean on us and I didn’t want to give him that chance.
“We might have left a little early on the restart, but when you are coming to (a) win at Rockingham, I would have pushed the darn pace car around the race track.”
Rounding out the top five, respectfully, were: Andy Loden, Chevrolet; Kyle Grissom, Dodge; and Clay Greenfield, Chevrolet.
Coleman Pressley, son of retired NASCAR driver Robert Pressley, finished seventh, while defending series champion Jake Crum placed 10th. Both drove Chevrolets.
Lee Tissot, son of former driver Randy Tissot, took 11th in his Chevrolet. Brandon McReynolds, son of FOX analyst and former NASCAR crew chief Larry McReynolds, finished 19th in his Dodge.
The UARA Series race was a prelude to Sunday’s ARCA/REMAX Series Carolina 200. The ARCA event will be televised live on SPEED beginning at 1 p.m.
Reserved seat tickets for the Carolina 200 start at $20 with children 12 and under admitted for $15 in any section with a paying adult.
For more information about the Carolina 200 or to order tickets, please contact the speedway at (910) 205-8800 or visit our website at www.rockinghamspeedway.com.
