After four years with Spire Motorsports, Corey LaJoie will spend his final season with the Mooresville-based team, with his future in NASCAR unclear.
The driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet has four top-five and six top-10 finishes, with his career-best finish being a fourth-place finish in three races in 2023 at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, and the Daytona 500. , the start of the 2024 season.
Prior to announcing Corey LaJoie’s departure, Spire Motorsports announced that it had signed Rodney Childers to a multi-year contract as crew chief for the No. 7 Chevrolet.
However, the latest developments in the garage mean the 2014 championship-winning crew chief will be working with another driver. Josh Berry has been in discussion for some time, but following his signing with Wood Brothers Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing’s current driver/chief duo will no longer exist at the end of this season. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the three Spire with Childers nominees.
#1. Harrison Burton (P34),Corey LaJoie (P28)
Harrison Burton entered the Cup Series full-time in 2022 with Wood Brothers Racing. However, in his third year with WBR, the One Car Cup team decided not to extend the contract of the No. 21 Ford driver, who will be replaced by Josh Berry next year. Burton has only achieved one top-five and five top-10 finishes during his time with the team.
With the departure of Corey LaJoie and not many drivers left on the driver market, Harrison Burton may end up in Spire’s No. 7 Chevrolet under the leadership of Rodney Childers.
No. 2. Daniel Suarez (P17)
Daniel Suarez signed a multi-year contract with Trucks Racing for 2023. However, that year the driver of the #99 Chevrolet didn’t perform well with only three top-five and ten top-ten finishes. As a result, Suarez is in a “contract year” with the team and there has been no concrete announcement regarding his future. Although he won at Atlanta Motor Speedway this year, finished in the top five twice and four top-ten twice, securing a playoff berth, he could get a call from LanSpire Motorsports as team owner Justin Marks has not made any concrete progress on a contract with Suarez.
#3. Austin Cindric (P19)
The Team Penske driver signed a contract extension last year but no updates about his 2025 Cup Series season have surfaced. While Austin Cindric sits 19th in the regular season standings, his recent World Wide Technology Raceway win paired with two top-5s and three top-10s has secured his seat in the playoffs.
Cindric has two Cup Series wins, with the first being the crown jewel Daytona 500 race in 2022. Moreover, compared to Spire Motorsports’ departing driver Corey LaJoie, who debuted in the Cup Series in 2014, Cindric boasts better statistics with two wins, eight top-5s, and 18 top-10s, since debuting in 2021. While Harriston Burton has inferior statistics compared to Corey LaJoie, Daniel Suarez and Austin Cindric comfortably outweigh the departing Spire Motorsports driver, and thus, are at high odds of filling in the #7 Chevy if their current contract doesn’t affirm their future.
