“This was supposed to be a one-shot deal,” LaJoie said after the win. “Hopefully they’ll give me a couple more now.”

            LaJoie held off a charging Tim Brown in the closing laps, beating and banging around the tight quarter-mile track. As they took the white flag, Brown drove hard into the first turn, trying mightily to knock LaJoie off his game.

Both drivers wiggled, then banged down the backstretch before coming through the final two corners side by side. LaJoie surged out of the final turn ahead and took the checkers mere feet before Brown.

“The last 10 laps were longer than the first 140,” LaJoie said. “I can’t say he raced me clean, but that’s modified racing.”

After the race, Brown was aggravated about the outcome and the trouble he had getting around lapped traffic. Admitting he was a sore loser, Brown said, “I definitely don’t think the best car won the race.”

LaJoie admitted he was the beneficiary of lapped traffic, but that didn’t take away the glow of the 18-year-old’s first series win.

            “I love that I’m sitting in this seat right now,” LaJoie beamed as he sat in the post-race winner’s interviews. “Oh my God, it’s amazing.”

            Proud father Randy LaJoie, a two-time Nationwide Series champion, greeted his son in Victory Lane, hooting, “Was that not a race? That was cool as hell!”

            For Randy LaJoie, his son’s win was just further validation that he had made the right decision all those years ago.

            “I didn’t go Cup racing because I wanted to give my kids a better dad, and I couldn’t do that on the road,” Randy LaJoie said. “So we went go-karting on Sunday. This makes my Sundays well worth it.”

            Racing action continues this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Saturday’s E-Z-GO 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Great seats are available at www.atlantamotorspeedway.com or by calling (877) 9-AMS-TIX.