Pack It Up, Pack It In, It’s How the NASCAR Season Begins

HAMPTON, Ga. — If it were the Daytona 499, Corey LaJoie would likely have a podium finish in the season-opening NASCAR Cup Series race last Sunday at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway. And his Rick Ware Racing (RWR) teammate, Cody Ware, would likely have his second straight top-five finish at the 2.5-mile oval.

Alas, it’s called the Daytona 500 for a reason, and in a last-lap accident about a mile away from the finish of the Great American Race, LaJoie was sent spinning down the backstretch and Ware got hit by another car in turn three, which sent him up the track and into the wall. Instead of a pair of top-fives, the RWR dup was left with finishes outside the top-20.

“We came out of the box with a lot of speed and that really allowed us to go do what we wanted to do and execute,” LaJoie said.

Ware, driver of the No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse who finished a career-best fourth at Daytona last August, felt the speed of RWR’s cars then and saw it as a prelude to this year’s race.

“Even last year, our superspeedway program was pretty stout,” Ware said. “We put ourselves in contention again this year, and to have it come undone on the second-to-last corner was heartbreaking.”

That speed is RWR’s silver lining. The Daytona 500 didn’t turn out as intended, but the same kind of pack racing seen at Daytona is featured again this Sunday in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, albeit on a track a mile shorter than Daytona.

“It takes superspeedway racing to the extreme, where we’re drafting on an even smaller, tighter track,” said Ware about the 1.54-mile Atlanta oval. “It makes the margin of error razor thin, almost non-existent. You’re basically at the whim of everything going on around you.

“Looking back at the first Atlanta race last year, there was an insane amount of cautions and I think over half the field got collected in one wreck or another, if not multiple. We have another round of high-intensity, high-risk, high-reward racing going to Atlanta.”

LaJoie, driver of the No. 01 AirMedCare Network Ford Mustang Dark Horse, nearly won at Atlanta in July 2022. He led 19 laps and lined up second for the green-white-checkered dash to the finish.

“We led the final restart of the day, and then Chase Elliott got a big push, got to the lead, and I should’ve worked a bit harder to block that run for the lead,” LaJoie said. “I thought I made the right move on the last lap to get to his right-rear quarter, but he just threw his block a bit later, and he threw the block to win, right? It didn’t work for me and the help didn’t go my way, but that was pretty close to career victory number one.

“But that’s why I keep showing up, especially here at Atlanta. I feel that on Sunday, we can find ourselves in the same spot.”

Keeping a clean racecar and staying up front at Atlanta is as mentally taxing as it is physically.

“At Atlanta, you’re laser-focused on the racetrack and what’s going on directly in front of you,” Ware said. “You don’t have time to think or even breathe. It’s more difficult than Daytona in that regard.”

LaJoie agrees.

“It’s probably one of the most mentally and physically exhausting races because the track’s banked a lot, you’re pulling a lot of Gs in the middle of the corner, and it’s a chess match trying to position yourself in the right spot at the right time. And the physical load on your body is one of the highest on the schedule, so it’s definitely a test of your mental and physical acuity.”

The Ambetter Health 400 is 260 laps. Ware starts 31st and LaJoie starts 35th. But, like Daytona, it’s all about working the draft and keeping a clean race car until the end when the checkered flag is near.

“I think much more is in your control at Atlanta. It’s a lot about the car’s handling and the positioning you can do in the draft,” LaJoie said. “At Atlanta, the separation between the cars that are driving well versus those that aren’t start to really show up. You can start making some headway, making some gains on the back end of the run, and find yourself in a good spot.”

A key for Ware is keeping the handling of his race car consistent.

“You want to know that you’ve got a race car that’s going to stay underneath you as the tires wear off throughout the run,” he said. “It’s about having a good-handling, well-balanced race car.”

Getting that balance means getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

“We’ve got a fixed suspension, kind of like a Daytona rear end, so everybody’s points are in the same spot,” LaJoie explained. “There’s certainly a lot to your wedge nose weight and spring rate combination to make sure you get a good feel for the rear tires, because the tire NASCAR brings is really hard and you always feel like you’re on the verge of busting your ass. So, whoever has the most comfort as far as rear stability, whoever can have a positive nose to be able to wrap the bottom when they need to and stay in the gas, is the guy who’s going to continue to find his way toward the front.”