Who Is 'Race For The Championship' Star Corey LaJoie?

NASCAR’s Cup Series is different in 2022 thanks to the Next Gen cars changing up the game and leveling the playing field for everyone on the track. This provides an opportunity for drivers such as Corey LaJoie to prove they’ve got what it takes to be a champion in NASCAR’s premier series. 

Corey joins the other professional racers featured in USA Network’s “Race For The Championship,” which documents their season both on and off the track as they seek the NASCAR Cup Series title. For Corey, though, it poses an opportunity for his smaller team at Spire Motorsports to really shine. Fortunately, seizing opportunities to shine is something the 31-year-old North Carolina native has been doing all his life. 

For those unfamiliar, Corey is a third-generation racer. His grandfather was racer Don LaJoie but he grew up on the racetrack watching his father, two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Randy LaJoie, as he earned back-to-back wins in the series in 1996 and 1997. Both men are in the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame. 

However, Corey’s racing legacy family didn’t help him avoid the hard work it takes to get where he is today. He had to exhibit as much determination and talent as anyone out there.

He began his career in top developmental series for NASCAR, according to his website, where he racked up wins and earned the attention of his peers. He soon went on to do select starts in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and even the NASCAR Cup Series.

By 2016, he was ready for the NASCAR Xfinity Series his dad previously dominated. He scored two top-10 finishes across 10 races. Now he’s got his sights set on the Cup Series and he’s already proving himself to be a top contender for the crown.

Outside of racing, LaJoie is a family man. He married his wife, Kelly, in 2018 and they share son Levi Ronnie and welcomed Jenson Daniel in May of this year. As a result, he’s been able to lean on his dad for parenting advice as well as racing advice. 

In addition to caring about his family, LaJoie also dedicates a lot of his time to charity — specifically, the organization Samaritans Feet. His website reports he’s raised roughly $240,000. In 2019, $100,000 of that total came when he gave up a month’s salary to have the organization's donors' names handwritten on his car, according to NBC Sports. 

He helped raise even more funds through awareness through stunts like going to the press line barefoot to highlight the importance of providing shoes to underprivileged parts of the world. 

Now, he hopes to raise his profile, make his family proud, and bring more clout to charity by taking home a NASCAR Cup Series championship. 

Catch "Race For The Championship" when it premieres on USA Network on Sept. 1. Meanwhile, you can catch more NASCAR content on Peacock.