Early NASCAR Career
LaJoie made his NASCAR Winston Cup debut in 1985 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Driving the #07 Snellman Construction Chevrolet owned by Bob Johnson, he started sixteenth and finished fourteenth. He ran his next race the following season at Pocono Raceway, where he finished 29th after suffering engine failure. He also made his Busch Series debut that season, running four races in his own #03 Pontiac, posting a tenth-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He ran another race in 1987 at Dover International Speedway and finished tenth. After a third-place finish the following season, he joined Frank Cicci Racing mid-way through 1989 and had a career-best second-place run at Hickory Motor Speedway. He ended the season 26th in points.
He did not return to Cicci in 1990, and ran a handful of Busch Races in his own #71, his best finish 23rd at Richmond. He did not run another NASCAR-sanctioned race until 1993, when he got selected to run the 20 Fina car owned by Dick Moroso at Talladega. This would turn out to be a career eye opener for LaJoie where he ran upfront mixing it up with the leaders all afternoon wounding up finishing an surprising 2nd. This got LaJoie 5 more races for Moroso and one for BACE Motorsports in the Busch Series. His best finish was second, twice. In 1994, he was a thought by some a dark horse to be a favorite for the championship. He drove for Moroso full-time in the #20 Fina Lube Chevy this season posting seven top-tens. LaJoie even lead the point standings early in the season before a string of bad luck, also a lack of performance dropped him to sixteenth in the final point standings. He also ran three Cup races, finishing in the top-20 in all three of them that season.
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