As the 2025 NASCAR season approaches, the excitement around Spire Motorsports' No. 7 car intensifies with the upcoming departure of Corey LaJoie. The intrigue surrounding the next potential driver for the coveted seat caught the attention of racing veteran Kevin Harvick, who shared his insights on his "Happy Hour" podcast.
Harvick explained:
"Well, there's not many rides left, and I think that the timing of all that was — I think caught everyone off guard for sure. With the hiring of Rodney Childers going over to Spire, they've obviously got a vision in their mind that I guess we're gonna see play out as you see and hear how many different people that they've hired to go to Spire. So, the driver of the 7 car is going to be an interesting one because it appears that it's going to come from a seat. Some seat, somewhere on the Cup side is probably gonna fill that 7 seat.
"So, we just have to wait and see how that all shakes out, but I think everybody was caught off guard and Spire has definitely said, 'Hey, we're here to win and spend the money to hire the people to put in these cars and work on these cars to figure out what that effort consists of in order to go win races.'"
Justin Haley currently holds the spotlight as the leading contender for the No. 7 car. Already showcasing impressive skills this season and with a win at the 2019 Coke Zero 400 under his belt, Haley's potential return to Spire Motorsports could mark a rejuvenating full-circle moment.
Jordan Bianchi, a sportswriter with close ties to the circuit, stated, as quoted by Yardbarker:
"There's a lot of things intertwined behind the scenes that are kind of just unfolding but I would say Justin Haley's the leading contender over there. There's also another driver and I wouldn't feel comfortable saying his name right now, but he is in the Cup Series and that's also someone else to keep an eye on."
NASCAR Cup Series Current Standings
- Kyle Larson - 779 points
- Denny Hamlin - 758 points
- Christopher Bell - 701 points
- William Byron - 678 points
- Ryan Blaney - 702 points
- Tyler Reddick - 774 points
- Chase Elliott - 773 points
- Brad Keselowski - 636 points
- Alex Bowman - 615 points
- Joey Logano - 557 points
- Daniel Suarez - 497 points
- Austin Cindric - 451 points
- Martin Truex Jr. - 662 points
- Ty Gibbs - 602 points
- Bubba Wallace - 587 points
- Chris Buescher - 584 points
(PLAYOFFS CUT-OFF) - Ross Chastain - 584 points
- Chase Briscoe - 485 points
- Kyle Busch - 465 points
- Todd Gilliland - 454 points
- Michael McDowell - 431 points
- Carson Hocevar - 414 points
- Josh Berry - 412 points
- Noah Gragson - 400 points
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - 376 points
- Ryan Preece - 341 points
- Erik Jones - 337 points
- Justin Haley - 329 points
- Corey LaJoie - 327 points
- Daniel Hemric - 323 points
- Austin Dillon - 319 points
- John Hunter Nemechek - 313 points
- Zane Smith - 262 points
- Harrison Burton - 243 points
- Kaz Grala - 166 points
- Cody Ware - 47 points
- Joey Hand - 43 points
- Jimmie Johnson - 39 points
- Derek Kraus - 32 points
- David Ragan - 17 points
- Kamui Kobayashi - 8 points
- Will Brown - 6 points
- Cam Waters - 2 points
