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The Spire Motorsports driver said he’s “remorseful” for the incident that ended the 160-lap race for Busch and several more.
Speaking on his NASCAR-produced podcast Stacking Pennies, the Cup Series veteran of nearly eight seasons said the contact wasn’t intentional.
LaJoie and Busch were running deep in the pack when the #7 hooked the left rear of the #3 and sent it into a spin.
Busch went backwards into the pack and gathered a handful of cars in the process.
Speaking after the incident, Busch was asked to comment on the incident but paid tribute to his teams and sponsors instead.
When pushed further on Fox Sports’ coverage if he would speak with LaJoie, Busch said “Nah” in response.
“That makes me a little nervous that I might have to pull my belts a little tight,” said LaJoie of the ominous interview.
KYLE BUSCH GETS TURNED AND SLIDES IN FRONT OF THE FIELD!
📺 : USA Network | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Dru1HtmnLl
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 14, 2024
“Let me make sure my head rest foam… the gaps are a little tightened up. I got a good seat but — you know he’s thinking something vastly different than what he’s saying.
“With how the #8 team has [gone] this year. I have now, just yesterday, helped with how bad their year is going unfortunately.
“I texted him, maybe I should call him, maybe I should send him flowers – I don’t know. No text back.
“What’s probably going to happen, like it always does, whenever we run into somebody… you’re in the driver intro truck at the next [round]. We’re going to qualify 14th and 15th and be next to each other and be scraping.
“I am going to have my eyes peeled in case someone is holding Richard Childress’ watch. If somebody is holding his watch I better be checking over my shoulder.”
LaJoie said he is keen to speak with Busch to explain himself and discuss the incident.
The Charlotte-born driver said he regretted some of his post-race comments having not seen footage of the incident in full.
He noted that Busch let his Chevrolet Camaro get into the rev limiter, which stopped the two-time Cup Series champion’s momentum. That, LaJoie said, played a contributing factor as he thought he could drive back up the track and slip in behind Busch.
“I do feel like a conversation is warranted there. I do feel worse about it on Monday than I did on Sunday night because now I see everything it makes more sense to me,” LaJoie explained.
“That’s just how aggressive you have to be on restarts and you have to take momentum when you get it. I’ll take some blame there.
“I think that if Kyle pulls fifth gear and the momentum of his car doesn’t change as much then I won’t turn him around. We just roll around the corner and keep on moving.”
A look at what happened from the view of @CoreyLaJoie. pic.twitter.com/LxDr4unPt3
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 14, 2024
NASCAR did not give LaJoie a fine and the driver reiterating that there was no malice intended.
“Now that there’s more information than ever that you can see and understand what the intent is,” he explained.
“You can look at SMT, you can look at in-car cameras, you can watch in-car cameras, you can see if there are any erratic moves made that are blatantly egregious to wreck somebody.
“If we had stewards and this was an F1 race that would probably be a penalty – who knows? – a 10-second penalty for avoidable contact.
“We don’t have that, nor have we ever, I hope we never have that, because that’s what makes NASCAR awesome is just the aggression, the ability to get into guys and move guys around, but if it were on the highway, I’m getting a ticket for that.”
