MADISON, Ill. >> Corey LaJoie is finally getting a chance to drive for Hendrick Motorsports this week.

He wanted so badly to drive for the team a few years ago, that when it became common knowledge Jimmie Johnson was retiring as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver, LaJoie used his best cursive penmanship to write a letter to owner Rick Hendrick asking for the job.

It didn’t work out then — Alex Bowman got the No. 48 car — but it may have laid the groundwork for this week.

When it appeared that Chase Elliott would be punished for his intentional wreck of Denny Hamlin at Charlotte, the team put LaJoie on standby. And when the one-race suspension was handed down, taking NASCAR’s most popular driver out of the No. 9 car for Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway, LaJoie finally got the call he’d long sought.

“I missed the call,” he said, by way of clarification. Turns out he fell asleep early. But at least Hendrick left a message.

“He was like, ‘Hey Corey, it’s Rick Hendrick here. Just wanted to thank you for filling in under these circumstances. I appreciate the help and I know you’ll do a good job,’ ” LaJoie said Saturday. “I feel like it’s a video game. You start your career mode on the bottom team, and you get called up to the next team and the next team, and then you get the call-up from Mr. Hendrick.

“That’s how I felt,” LaJoie said. “I was laying in bed and I told my wife, ‘My life is like a video game right now.’”

Elliott, who popped into the St. Louis area for some fan events this week, denied deliberately hooking the rear of Hamlin’s car during the rain-rescheduled Charlotte race on Monday. Hamlin countered by posting a stream of data on social media backing up his claims, then pointed out that Bubba Wallace — who drives the car Hamlin owns with 23XI Racing — was suspended last year for deliberately hooking Kyle Larson during a race in Las Vegas.

“You never want to see Chase out of a car by any means,” Bowman said, “but I understand why NASCAR has got to be consistent with things, and then also excited to see how Corey does. It’s a big opportunity for him.”

LoJoie was hired by Spire Motorsports — which will have Carson Hocevar in its No. 7 on Sunday — when he didn’t get the No. 48 ride a couple of years ago. The team has steadily improved thanks in part to a working relationship with Hendrick Motorsports, and LaJoie was fourth earlier this year in Phoenix and has two other top-15 runs.

He knows expectations are greater with Hendrick, though, where his father Randy made nine starts some 25 years ago.

That was evident in a talk he had with Spire owner Jeff Dickerson.

“Jeff called and was like, ‘Hey, it’s happening,’” LaJoie said. “There was a lot of self-doubt that crept in that night, like, ‘Can you do it?’ Put up or shut up.’ You’re wrestling around, wrestling these emotions of like, scared and nervous. And Wednesday morning you wake up, you walk into the shop and the first five minutes, you notice like, the collective focus of that group. Their goal is to win races and championships. You walk through the lobby, you know why they are so successful.

“I texted Dickerson and said, ‘I can’t believe Spire and Hendrick race in the same series. We’re closer to a good truck team,’” LaJoie added. “It’s definitely a cool opportunity to this week be one of the goliaths sitting in one.”

Blaney joins Kyle Busch on front row

Ryan Blaney isn’t slowing down now that he’s finally reached victory lane again.

After snapping his 59-race winless streak by holding off William Byron to win the rescheduled Coca-Cola 600 on Monday, Blaney put his No. 12 Ford on the front row to start the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday.

He was less than a hundredth of a second behind pole sitter Kyle Busch in qualifying Saturday.

Blaney turned the fastest lap during first qualifying runs on a brutally hot Saturday morning just outside St. Louis. But he didn’t quite replicate it in the pole shootout: Busch had a lap of 137.187 mph while Blaney had a lap of 137.153 mph.

Denny Hamlin qualified third, Kevin Harvick was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.