As if NASCAR free company could not get any extra bizarre this season, it now has a bow-tie-shaped wrench thrown in the midst of it.
On Thursday, Spire Motorsports introduced that Corey LaJoie wouldn’t return in 2025, opening the door for the crew to place a brand new driver within the No. 7 automotive to be paired with Rodney Childers.
With the crew shedding a veteran driver in LaJoie, what if it have been to convey one other veteran driver to the crew — moderately than a win-less journeyman, nevertheless, what if a two-time champion took the reins of Spire’s flagship entry?
It is no secret that Kyle Busch’s 2024 season has been akin to Dante’s Inferno. With Richard Childress Racing sinking additional into mediocrity with each passing week, it may’t be straightforward for some of the fiery, pushed opponents in NASCAR historical past to be content material with a top-15 run.
With Spire exhibiting indicators of enchancment, in addition to bringing on Childers, LaJoie’s departure may very well be the primary domino to fall in what could be one of many wildest NASCAR free-agent strikes of all time: Kyle Busch leaving the ruins of RCR to affix a younger, flourishing Spire.
Busch is signed by way of 2025, however Spire has confirmed prepared to open up its checkbook when it feels the scenario requires it. Signing Childers, who’s revered as the very best crew chief within the Cup storage, could not have been low-cost. Nor might partnerships with Gainbridge or including a 3rd Cup Sequence automotive or fielding three full-time entries within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence.
Spire could characterize a lateral transfer for Busch in 2025, however because the years go on, Spire will seemingly start to outclass RCR. Rookie Carson Hocevar has been much better than LaJoie up to now in 2024 and the crew has younger expertise to flaunt within the type of Truck Sequence star Rajah Caruth.
A Childers-Busch pairing might not be as potent because it might’ve been 5 years in the past, but when Busch decides to stick with RCR, he may very well be throwing away the twilight years of his profession when it seems he nonetheless has loads of fuel within the tank.
