“Good for both”: Denny Hamlin approves of Spire-Rick Ware driver swap

NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin has expressed his views on the recent driver swap between Spire Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing. He believes that the trade is a good move for both the drivers and their potential moves for 2025.

Corey LaJoie of Spire Motorsports and Justin Haley of Rick Ware Racing will switch teams for the remaining seven races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, beginning with Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. The 32-year-old LaJoie will take over the #51 RWR Ford, while the 25-year-old Haley will pilot Spire’s #7 Chevrolet. Last week’s Bristol race was the last event for the drivers in their original teams.

In the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin voiced his support for LaJoie and Haley’s ride switch. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran believes the trade helps to take some of the pressure off LaJoie, whose performance has been impacted by the presence of his teammates Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar.

“I think this is good for both. The reason is, I think it takes pressure off of Corey,” Denny Hamlin said. "He had teammates where Zane Smith is coming into his own. Trackhouse letting go of Zane. I don’t know where Zane ends up, but he’s coming into his own really quickly. You had Carson Hocevar coming in as a rookie, performing great… He’s doing great, and that probably put some pressure on Corey.

They’re performing really well. And then you push. And then when you push, you wreck. Certainly, you know, there’s a lot of trolls getting at Corey quite a bit here lately because of all the wrecks that he’s been in or caused.”

During a joint press conference at Bristol last week, Spire Motorsports confirmed that Haley will replace LaJoie full-time in 2025. LaJoie was originally scheduled to leave Spire at the end of the season, and his future with RWR is uncertain beyond this season. It remains to be determined whether LaJoie will be in RWR’s scheme of things for next season.

Hamlin believes that a move to RWR could benefit LaJoie to revive his NASCAR Cup career.

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Denny Hamlin views this trade as a chance for career rejuvenation for Corey LaJoie

The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin pointed out In the aforementioned podcast that RWR’s #51 Ford has shown speed this season. If LaJoie can achieve solid finishes with RWR, then it might serve as a stepping stone to getting back into NASCAR’s top-tier series.

“This is going to be best for him to go to Rick Ware. And if you can go get some good results in the #51, which it is capable of doing, Justin Haley has shown that it’s very capable of running well, then maybe that can springboard him back into a topflight team in the future,” Denny Hamlin said.

Hamlin currently sits sixth in the Cup Series playoffs points table, three points above the cutline. Catch him in action at Kansas Speedway for the next playoff race on Sunday, September 29.