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Corey LaJoie dominated the 2012 East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway en route to the victory. (Iowa Speedway)

Looking Back: Corey LaJoie’s Iowa Win Set Table For Wild 2012 Finish

www.arcaracing.com April 17, 2020

The manner in which Corey  LaJoie finally picked up his signature win belied the roller coaster the rest of the 2012 would go through.

The Concord, North Carolina, driver qualified second his family-owned No. 07 Dewey Automotive/Sims Metal Ford and proceeded to lead 134 laps. Not even a multi-car accident with 16 laps to go that bunched up the field would derail LaJoie.

He re-took the lead from Kyle Larson with 10 laps to go and crossed the finish line with a 1.651-second margin of victory.

LaJoie won in his 24th career start in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series as a 20-year-old with a victory at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Two races later, he won again at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia.

It was a win at “The Fastest Short Track In The Planet” that seemed destine to propel LaJoie to a championship.

In fact, LaJoie finished second in the next race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (won by Larson) and then picked up back-to-back wins at Dover International Speedway and South Carolina’s Greenville Pickens Speedway. LaJoie qualified fourth at Greenville, went to the back to start the race after missing the drivers’ meeting, and then drove to the front – passing Chase Elliott in overtime to lead the final two laps and grab the win.

But the Greenville win was marred by a post-race technical inspection penalty for an altered carborauter that cost him 25 points and left him 19 points out of the lead heading into the final at Rockingham.

LaJoie finished second at Rockingham, which featured a entirely different set of drama. Brett Moffitt led 15 laps and was poised to grab the win and the championship. However, contact with Tyler Reddick on the final lap crashed Moffitt out on the backstretch.

Reddick went on to win in his series debut. And Larson finished sixth to claim the title by 15 points over LaJoie. Moffitt ended up 10 points further back, with Chase Elliott fourth.

LaJoie won three of his five starts in the ARCA Menards Series in 2013. He returned to the East Series for a one-off start in 2016, winning at New Hampshire. He would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2014, and landed a full-time Cup ride in 2017 and has become a fan favorite as the perennial underdog.

RACING-REFERENCE: Corey LaJoie’s Career Statistics

Out West, Iowa was not kind to the top championship contenders. Gene Price Motorsports Greg Pursley started 20th and finished 20th and Dylan Kwasniewski started 29th and finished 27th. Pursley left with a seven-point lead over Kwasniewski and 31 over David Mayhew.

Pursley, the 2011 champion, extended his lead with a win in the next race at Portland International Raceway. He finished eighth and Kwasniewski ninth at NAPA Speedway in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The title race took a turn in the penultimate race of the season, where Kwasniewski led 32 laps en route to the win at All American Speedway in Roseville, California. Pursley finished 13th, giving Kwasniewski a two-point championship lead.

The Las Vegas driver finished second in the finale to become the youngest champion in series history, to date.

RACING-REFERENCE: Dylan Kwasniewski | Greg Pursley

Kwasniewski would move East, winning that series championship in 2013 with six wins in 14 starts. He also made his ARCA Menards Series debut with a fourth-place finish at Kansas Speedway.

He would struggle in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Turner Scott Motorsports with just three top 10s in 33 starts. After his primary sponsor, Rockstar Energy, left the sport, Kwasniewski made just six more starts in 2015. He is now a real estate agent in the Charlotte area.

Pursley finished third in the championship in 2013, and then won his second title as a 46-year-old in 2014.

Back injuries throughout his career prompted Pursley to retire from full-time competition following his final title run. He made his 100th and final career start in 2015.