NASCAR driver Corey LaJoie is gearing up for his eighth Daytona 500 race, emphasizing the intense, high-speed nature of the event.
Partnering with Chili’s for a campaign, he described the experience as a mix of conscious and out-of-body sensations, highlighting the pressure and risks involved in the race.
“It’s hard to explain. It’s like a little bit of an out-of-body experience mixed with like a conscious experience of like, ‘Oh boy, this going to get big, and it’s going to hurt real bad if I crash.’ But meanwhile, you’re trying to just play chess with a 3,600-pound racecar going 200 mph,” LaJoie said.
“You can see cars bouncing around. You can see guys pushing, and you can see big aggressive blocks and all it takes is one little puff of smoke from one mistake and you can be piled up.”
“The intensity knob ramps up slowly throughout the course of the day and bumps aren’t quite as big and runs aren’t as quite as fast,” LaJoie said. “As you get closer, the bumps become harder. The room becomes very minimal, if any. There’s no more cutting breaks, and you just feel that intensity knob ramp up toward the end and cars are moving around, and you’re getting smashes and people know it’s time to go.”
As the 200-lap event progresses, the intensity increases, with cars getting closer and the pressure inside the car rising.
“You wanna make sure you’re on the front side of that because that’s when stuff sort of gets torn up, but it’s also when they decide who that winner is. It gets your heart going, your senses are heightened. The whole pressure in the car changes when it ramps up – kind of like when they shut the door of an airplane and you’re about to take off. It sucks that pressure and it pressurizes. The cars are going so fast, so close together, that the pressure inside the car is almost like an airplane,” he said.
“Meanwhile, you’re going 200 mph alongside 39 other crazy fellas that are also going 200 mph. It’s a pretty wild experience.”
LaJoie’s best finish was eighth place in 2020, and the race will air on FOX at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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