Corey LaJoie smartly avoided Rick Hendrick’s Ross Chastain treatment after adding to William Byron’s Atlanta miseries

Quaker State 400 at the revamped track in Atlanta was nothing but a wild, aggressive race with riders going pedal to the metal from the start. As veteran Kevin Harvick bid farewell to the iconic track one last time, the NASCAR nation saw the rise of a 25-year-old when William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports returned to pick up his 4th win of the season despite early adversity.

Although a pit road penalty and a spin on the tracks proved costly for the driver, the HMS phenom showed his tenacity and courage as he rode home with the win, climbing in first place in the standings.

Recently, NASCAR released its Radioactive segment where the community saw Corey Lajoie take full responsibility after knocking the #24 Chevy off the tracks during Stage 2. The Spire Motorsports driver, in an effort not to displease to the boss, Rick Hendrick apologized to Byron over the radio.

Corey LaJoie comes clean, apologizes to William Byron and avoids Mr H’s wrath

Fights and wrecks are nothing new in NASCAR, but unnecessary and intentional acts of revenge are generally avoided by the community. The NASCAR nation saw it when Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson got into a bloody battle with Chastain getting the worst end of the trade when his Trackhouse Racing co-owner issued stern warnings to the driver.

After their third meeting at Darlington, all hell broke loose when Rick Hendrick called Chastain, ending his feud with the pilot of HMS. Although Chastain did not reveal their exact conversation, it was all the more clear to the community that this incident effectively put Chastain on the back foot as the #1 driver was no longer the wrecking ball he was. .

With this incident going viral, Corey Lajoie didn’t want the boss-man to smoke as the #7 driver issued an apology to Byron, whom he ran off the track.

Lajoie on the radio, said, “Sorry Willy (William Byron), I was looking in my mirror, even though I was clear”, as Byron asked his crew, “I just got hooked there?”

The adverse conditions and the frantic pace of the peloton certainly made the race thrilling. However, Byron was on rough seas as an early pit road penalty lost his momentum while the incident with Lajoie sent him lower down the ladder. Unfazed by setbacks, the 25-year-old sensation put in a stellar performance to win the rain-shortened race.

The early Pit-Road penalty that brought the youngster to the tail

The racetrack action in a revamped Atlanta was nothing the drivers expected it to be. When the weather was hostile with cloudy and wet conditions, they launched, fighting for position and anticipating a possible stoppage. With the peloton rolling out onto the reconfigured track, things were supposed to go wrong the way they did.

But what set the #24 driver back was a seemingly unsuspecting penalty on Lap 66. Finishing Stage 1 in the top 5 Byron was heading to the next stage when a crew member passed over the pit wall during the pit stop, trying to grab a tire, prompting NASCAR to issue a penalty. This however had serious repercussions as the 25-year-old fell at the end despite entering Stage 2 in the top 5.

But the KBM prodigy recovered exceptionally well, taking the lead and making the most of the rain-shortened race to emerge victorious by beating HMS teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott to become the points leader.

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