TC Daily Pit Stop: CARS Tour Dishes Out Post-Hickory Penalties; Who Should Spire Target to Replace LaJoie; Ryan Roulette Ready for ARCA at Elko
TC Daily Pit Stop: Wednesday, July 31, 2024
CARS Tour Fines and Suspends Andrew Grady; Dishes Out More Penalties After Chaotic Hickory Weekend
After an absolute chaos-filled Late Model Stock race at Hickory Motor Speedway, CARS Tour officials issued a lengthy penalty report on Tuesday afternoon. Among the penalties issued were a three-race suspension and a $1,500 total fine for Andrew Grady for a pair of infractions.
Grady, who was involved in a crash with 65 laps to go, walked up the track to throw his HANS device at Landon Huffman’s car, which resulted in a $500 fine. After the race was over, Grady shoved CARS Tour founder Jack McNelly to the ground, which sparked a pit road brawl. For that, Grady was handed a three-race suspension and an additional $1,000 fine.
Two crew members from the pit road brawl were suspended a race and fined $500.
Ryan Millington, who spun Connor Hall to take the initial win before being DQed was placed on probation for the remainder of the year for rough driving, and Buddy Isles Jr. was placed on probation for the rest of the year and fined $500 for unauthorized crossing of the racing surface to confront another competitor.
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Analysis: Who Should Spire Motorsports be Targeting to Fill No. 7 Ride?
Toby Christie, our founder and Editor-in-Chief, weighed in on who he feels should be the top-five prospects for Spire Motorsports to replace Corey LaJoie as the driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet in 2025. Spire announced they would not retain LaJoie next season despite a previous announcement that LaJoie would be paired with crew chief Rodney Childers.
According to Toby, the team should focus solely on drivers who have won a NASCAR Cup Series race in the past — something LaJoie doesn’t have on his resume — and if the team can’t land a Kyle Busch, they should focus on drivers on the younger side of things to help build a more sustainable foundation for the organization.
Check out Toby’s five picks to land the No. 7 ride in 2025:
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Elated For Elko, Ryan Roulette Talks Career Best Finish, Chance To Gamble And Double Down At Elko
Ryan Roulette was rewarded with a career-best eighth-place finish in a wild ARCA Menards Series race at Salem Speedway this past weekend. The 38-year-old Fast Track Racing driver and military veteran is excited for his prospects this week at Elko Speedway, as it’s one of two tracks on the schedule that he has competed at in the past.
“Elko and Phoenix are the only two tracks this year that we have seen in previous seasons. Elko is special on our schedule because we have a lot of our family nearby in the Twin Cities. It’s always amazing to have 20+ friends and family in the stands supporting what you’re doing and Elko was an absolute blast for all of us last season even with all the fun weather we fought through that evening.”