Brake Failure Forces LaJoie to a Backup at Martinsville

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

“There is no coffee strong enough that will wake you up like losing brakes into turn one at Martinsville,” Corey LaJoie after crashing during Saturday morning practice.

Heading into Turn 1, LaJoie’s No. 32 CorvetteParts.com Ford Mustang lost his brakes and careened into the wall at full force, leaving heavy right front damage as he brought his car to the garage.

He and the entire GoFAS Racing team rolled out and began working on the backup car before qualifying commences later this afternoon.

#RESPECT Driver working on his race car #OldSchool #Teamwork https://t.co/RmcofJOen9

— CorvetteParts.net (@KeenParts) March 23, 2019

LaJoie stated that losing brakes is a driver’s worst feeling because there isn’t much he can do, especially at Martinsville.

“It’s not a good feeling losing brakes,” LaJoie explained. “It had like a half-pedal and then it felt like it blew through the seal or something.”

Perhaps less encouraging of his accident for the 29th points man is indeed preparing a backup because it’s not fully developed to compete at its highest level, but is more than willing to lend a hand and stuck by his word.

“It’s unfortunate because small teams like ours we don’t really bring a backup that’s fully ready to go, so my guys have a lot of work ahead of them,” said LaJoie. “I’ll probably pitch in and help a little bit, but, obviously, our backup is not gonna be as good as the car that we choose and bring as our primary.

“I hate it for CorvetteParts.com and everybody at GoFAS. They brought a really good primary car and hopefully they can work on the backup car and make it just as good.”

LaJoie was 24th fastest in practice out of the 36-car field.