How working with Prime Video changed Corey LaJoie’s perspective as a driver

This weekend’s NASCAR Cup race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta) will feature a full field of 40 cars. Among the four open entries will be the No. 01 Rick Ware Racing Ford with Corey LaJoie behind the wheel. He is making his fourth start of the 2025 season.

Over the past five races, LaJoie has been taking in NASCAR Cup Series events from a very different seat, watching on as an analyst for Prime Video. In the weekly team advance, he opened up about how that has changed his mindset as a driver.

“Driving the race car can be a really lonely place,” said LaJoie. “You have all this weight of expectations to deliver for your team and your sponsors and yourself and your fans, and when you feel like you’re not doing that, it feels like everybody is looking at you.

“But what I realized these last five weeks during my time on Prime, I’m intently watching the race, but I’m really only focused on three guys’ races. The other guys who are there grinding away, unless they somehow factor into the main storylines of the race, they’re not top of mind.

“Before this opportunity to see the race from a TV perspective, I would feel like if I wasn’t running well, then I was letting a lot of people down. I think that I cared too much, and I would hold the outcome too tightly, as opposed to just enjoying it when I was doing it.”

Just enjoying the ride

And with that, LaJoie has one goal for this upcoming race at Atlanta and it’s simply to “enjoy it” as he runs a limited schedule this year. “I really like the atmosphere at Rick Ware Racing, and now we’re going back to a place where I’ve been close to winning before. It’s a great opportunity for me to run well and have some fun.”

LaJoie has been keeping busy since his last Cup start in April. Along with working with Prime Video and hosting his ‘Stacking Pennies’ podcast, he has been competing in select NASCAR Truck and Modified races.

Good news: this weekend’s round at Atlanta is a special place for LaJoie and one that may provide a big opportunity. In 275 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, LaJoie has never won. But the closest he ever came was one of these Atlanta Cup races in 2022. He was attempting to make a last-lap pass for the lead on Chase Elliott, but wrecked as Elliott threw an aggressive block. He also ran the the first Atlanta race of the 2025 season, but ended up taken out in a mid-race incident.

“Atlanta is like a speedway on steroids,” added LaJoie. “Things happen so quickly, and you can get yourself into a bad spot.”