This is not how the NASCAR season was supposed to go for Corey LaJoie.

LaJoie was a trendy breakout pick prior to 2024 as the elder statesman of a rededicated effort from Spire Motorsports in terms of finances and resources.

It started with a fourth-place run in the Daytona 500 but that remains his lone top-10 finish of the season, a season marred by a calamity of errors like the one Sunday at Pocono that left social media firing away at the "Stacking Pennies" host.

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LaJoie was blocked on a restart by Kyle Busch and after trying to go even lower, LaJoie turned back to the right, spinning Busch and igniting a pileup. And while Busch, also mired in a miserable year, has a pair of championships and 63 wins to his credit, LaJoie's resume was in the crosshairs following Sunday's race.

Here are some of the highlights, err, lowlights:

It's not all unwarranted. LaJoie has made 257 Cup Series starts in nine seasons. He has nine top 10s and no wins.

Maybe most frustratingly, rookie teammate Carson Hocevar, who is currently 23rd in points compared to LaJoie in 30th, has been a pleasant surprise. Even the third Spire driver, Zane Smith, who got off to brutal start, has shown progress of late and started ninth on Sunday.

Last week, Spire announced that Rodney Childers, longtime crew chief for Kevin Harvick, would be coming to the No. 7 team. And while we don't know the specifics of LaJoie's contract, we know he signed a multi-season extension last year.

At 31, LaJoie is no longer a youngster but he'll have at least one more year to silence the criticism.

It's certainly not hard to find.

Let's go through the gears:

First gear

Ryan Blaney didn't have to say his No. 12 team is in better shape than it was at this point last year, the numbers do it for him.

Over the last six races, Blaney has two wins and five top-10 finishes. In the same six-race stretch last year, he had five finishes of 22nd or worse. Team Penske has won every other race over the last nine events, starting with Joey Logano in the All-Star Race.

So, is this run a statement to the rest of the field?

"I try not to get too focused on everyone else's stuff," Blaney deflected.

Fair enough, but the defending champ's stuff is pretty good at the moment.

Second gear

Hailie Deegan is staying busy, despite her departure from AM Racing and the Xfinity Series last week.

On Monday, Deegan was announced as a partner for Ken Schrader in this weekend's SpeedTour All-Star Race at Lime Rock. Even more intriguing was a tweet from the IndyCar Series over the weekend, showing Deegan climbing out of an open-wheel car at Iowa and summing up the experience with, "Screw stock-car racing."

Her comment came with a laugh, but could Deegan really be heading to IndyCar? Time will tell, but she's making good on her promise to keep racing.

Third gear

Last week, it looked like a must-win scenario for drivers 17th and worse.

But thanks to a Ross Chastain crash and a Bubba Wallace 10th-place run on Sunday, things got quite a bit more interesting.

Wallace is just 27 points back of Chastain for the 16th and final playoff spot and has four of his top eight tracks in terms of average finish remaining over the last five races of the regular season. That includes this Sunday at Indianapolis, where he's registered a pair of top 10s in three career starts.

Fourth gear

It's hard to put much meaning into Indianapolis averages with this being the Gen-7 car's first trip 'round the oval. Joey Logano (10.8) has the best average among active drivers who've made more than one start. Kyle Busch (two) and Brad Keselowski (one) are the only full-time active drivers with a win.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Corey LaJoie nearing NASCAR crossroads; Hailie Deegan keeps racing