In a race weekend that commenced on a high note by achieving his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career pole position, Rajah Caruth concluded the weekend by achieving another first: his first Truck Series career victory as he raced his way to victory in the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 1.
The 21-year-old Caruth from Washington D.C. led twice for 38 of 134 scheduled laps in an event where he commenced on a high note by achieving his first career pole position and leading the field to the green flag. Despite losing the lead early, Caruth, who led for the first time on Lap 34 after exiting pit road with the lead, kept in touch with the front-runners throughout the entire event as he achieved top-three results during both stage periods. Then amid a cycle of green flag pit stops with 34 laps remaining, Caruth, who outlasted a late battle against Taylor Gray, cycled into the lead with 21 laps remaining and managed to withstand lapped traffic and a late charge from points leader Tyler Ankrum to claim his first career victory in his 30th series’ start.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Rajah Caruth notched his first Truck Series career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 177.043 mph in 30.501 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Christian Eckes, who clocked in the second-fast qualifying lap at 177.038 mph in 30.502 seconds.
Prior to the event, rookie Layne Riggs dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his Front Row Motorsports entry.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Caruth and Eckes dueled for the lead entering the first two turns and through the backstretch in front of two stacked lanes until Eckes muscled ahead on the inside lane and led the first lap ahead of Caruth. As the field fanned out to three lanes, Eckes maintained the lead over Kyle Busch, who overtook teammate Caruth for the runner-up spot as Ty Majeski and Tyler Ankrum followed suit in the top five.
On the third lap, the event’s first caution flew when Bayley Currey slipped underneath Chase Purdy while battling for a top-12 spot amid a three-wide battle that also involved Matt Crafton as Currey backed his No. 41 Niece Motorsports entry into the backstretch’s outside wall before he slid back down across the track and towards the inside wall with significant rear end damage.
When the race restarted under green on the seventh lap, Eckes briefly fended off Busch for the lead entering the first turn until Busch used the outside lane along with a push from teammate Caruth to assume the lead through the backstretch, with Eckes slipping back to second as he was being challenged by Majeski. Amid the early battles ensuing behind, Busch maintained the lead ahead of Majeski, Eckes and Caruth while Stewart Friesen and Tyler Ankrum battled for fifth in front of Grant Enfinger.
Through the Lap 10 mark, Busch was leading by more than two-tenths of a second over Majeski followed by Caruth, Friesen and Eckes while Ankrum, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Nick Sanchez and Christopher Bell were running in the top 10. Behind, Corey Heim was in 11th ahead of Matt Crafton, Chase Purdy, Ben Rhodes and Dean Thompson while Taylor Gray, Jake Garcia, Daniel Dye, Ty Dillon and Bret Holmes occupied the top 20 on the track.
Four laps later, Majeski engaged in a side-by-side battle with Busch for the lead through the frontstretch as Caruth joined the battle. After dueling against Busch through the backstretch, Majeski muscled ahead through Turns 3 and 4 as he was out in front through the frontstretch before Busch reassumed the top spot through the first two turns just past the Lap 15. Â Amid another side-by-side battle with Majeski, Busch muscled back ahead just past the Lap 16 mark as teammate Caruth started to battle Majeski for the runner-up spot. Majeski, however, would reassume the lead on Lap 19. He would be followed by Caruth while Busch, who started to battle tight conditions, was battling Friesen for third place.Â
At the Lap 25 mark, Majeski was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Caruth while Friesen, Ankrum and Bell were in the top five. Meanwhile, Busch had fallen to seventh behind Heim while Taylor Gray, Enfinger and Zane Smith were running in the top 10. In addition, Eckes, who led early, was mired back in 13th behind Crafton and Sanchez while Rhodes was mired 15th in between Dean Thompson and Tanner Gray.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Majeski captured his first Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Caruth settled in second followed by Friesen, Ankrum and Heim while Bell, Taylor Gray, Busch, Enfinger and Crafton were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski steered to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Caruth emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by teammate Busch, Heim, Majeski, Enfinger and Crafton. Amid the pit stops, Bell was penalized for equipment interference while rookie Thad Moffitt was also penalized for his pit crew being over the wall too soon.
The second stage period started on Lap 36 as teammates Caruth and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Caruth received a push from Majeski to retain the lead from the inside lane while Busch battled and prevailed over a brief battle with Majeski for the runner-up spot through the backstretch. During the following lap, however, Busch drew himself into a side-by-side battle with Caruth for the lead. With Heim and Majeski following suit in close-quarters racing, Caruth would muscle back ahead of Busch by Lap 40. He would retain the lead by a narrow margin during the proceeding laps while Busch, Heim and Majeski ran second through fourth, respectively, as they were separated within half a second.
By Lap 45, Caruth was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Majeski while teammate Busch trailed in third place by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Heim and Taylor Gray were in the top five while Sanchez, Crafton, Enfinger, Ankrum and Zane Smith occupied the top 10 in front of Friesen, Eckes, Thompson, Tanner Gray and Dye.
Five laps later, Caruth continued to lead by less than two-tenths of a second over Majeski. Majeski, however, would navigate his way back into the lead over Caruth entering the frontstretch during the following lap. Heim would then battle Caruth for the runner-up spot while Busch, Taylor Gray and Sanchez trailed in the top six. Meanwhile, Bell was up in 16th place following his early pit road penalty.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 60, Majeski captured his second consecutive Truck stage victory of the 2024 season. Heim prevailed in a late battle against Caruth for the runner-up spot followed by Taylor Gray and Busch while Sanchez, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Friesen and Crafton were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Busch emerged with the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Taylor Gray, Majeski, Heim, Sanchez, Enfinger, Crafton and Caruth followed suit.
With 68 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Taylor Gray and Busch occupied the front row. At the start, Busch fended off Gray to emerge with the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. Busch would lead ahead of Gray and Majeski for nearly a lap just before the caution returned after Thompson, who was running 11th, smacked the outside wall entering the frontstretch.
When the race restarted with 62 laps remaining, Busch maintained a narrow advantage over both Majeski and Taylor Gray through the first two turns before he was overtaken by Majeski, who was being drafted by Sanchez as Enfinger fanned out and made a three-wide move in an attempt to gain ground on Busch towards the front, though Busch maintained third place in front of Enfinger, Heim and Caruth. With the field still fanning out and jostling for late spots, Majeski retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Sanchez followed by Heim while Caruth, Taylor Gray and Busch followed closely in the top six with 60 to go.
A few laps later, Sanchez battled and overtook Majeski for the lead through the frontstretch. With Sanchez out in front, Caruth would challenge Majeski for the runner-up spot followed by Heim and Taylor Gray while Busch and Ankrum battled for sixth place. Heim would then take the lead from Sanchez with 53 laps remaining while Majeski, Caruth and Taylor Gray fiercely battled for third place. As Ankrum and Busch joined the tight battle towards the front, Heim would retain the lead by two-tenths of a second over Majeski with 50 laps remaining before the latter assumed the top spot a lap later.
With 40 laps remaining, Heim, who reassumed the lead five laps earlier, was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Taylor Gray while Majeski, Caruth and Ankrum trailed in the top five ahead of Sanchez, Busch, Bell, Rhodes and Eckes. Meanwhile, Friesen, who hit the backstretch wall and pitted under green with a flat right-front tire, was mired back in 27th and two laps down, while Crafton, Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Riggs and Zane Smith were running in the top 15.
Six laps later, green flag pit stops commenced as Daniel Dye pitted followed by Eckes, Enfinger, Caruth, Busch and Majeski before the leader Heim pitted with 30 laps remaining. Ankrum would also pit while Taylor Gray would pit during the proceeding lap. As the green flag pit stops continued, Majeski and Sanchez were assessed a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road while Busch would be penalized for a safety violation. With more names that included Tanner Gray, Jake Garcia, Bret Holmes, Bell and Purdy also pitting under green, Gray would be penalized for a commitment line violation. By then, Mason Massey, who has yet to pit, was leading while Taylor Gray and Caruth battled for the runner-up spot.
Then with 21 laps remaining, Massey, who led the previous six laps, pitted under green. This moved Caruth into the lead as he was ahead by nearly a second over Taylor Gray while Heim, Ankrum and Bell were scored in the top five ahead of Eckes, Crafton, Dye, Enfinger and Rhodes.
Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Caruth extended his advantage to more than a second over Taylor Gray while third-place Ankrum trailed in third place by two seconds ahead of Heim and Bell. A lap later, however, Ankrum would overtake Taylor Gray for the runner-up spot and set his sights on Caruth while Gray proceeded to fend off Heim for third place.
Five laps later and with the leader navigating through lapped traffic, Caruth continued to lead by more than a second over a hard-charging Ankrum while Heim, Taylor Gray and Bell were running in the top five ahead of Eckes, Crafton, Enfinger, Zane Smith and Rhodes were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Majeski was back in 11th ahead of Garcia, Holmes, Connor Jones and Busch while Sanchez was back in 17th ahead of Purdy.
With five laps remaining, Caruth stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Ankrum and by more than two seconds over third-place Heim while Taylor Gray and Heim remained in the top five.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Caruth remained as the leader by more than a second over Ankrum. With Ankrum trying to mount a final lap charge, Caruth was able to stabilize his steady advantage and navigate his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST around the Vegas circuit smoothly for a final time as he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first checkered flag in the series by eight-tenths of a second over Ankrum.
With the victory, Caruth, whose first career victory came in his 30th series start, became the 124th competitor to achieve a victory in the Truck Series and the second first-time winner of the season after Nick Sanchez achieved his first career victory at Daytona International Speedway two weeks earlier. He also became the third African-American competitor to win across NASCAR’s top three national touring series and the second to do so in the Truck Series since Bubba Wallace made the first accomplishment in October 2013 while also delivering the fourth career victory for Spire Motorsports. Caruth also delivered the first victory for crew chief Chad Walter.
“It’s surreal,” Caruth said on FS1. “Thank you so much to HendrickCars.com, Mr. [Hendrick] for putting me in this [Spire Motorsports truck] all year along with the men and women at Spire. They’ve had a lot of work this winter and the decal shop’s been working very hard too. Glad to get the win for Team Chevy. Can’t thank my family enough. So many people have helped me get to this point. I can’t believe it. I just stayed cool. We lost track position a little portion of the race. We just stayed in the game and it was just one step. One punch, one round at a time. My [pit] guys had me a great stop and we just executed. There’s more [wins] to come, for sure.”
Tyler Ankrum, the series’ points leader, settled in the runner-up spot while Corey Heim, Taylor Gray and Christopher Bell finished in the top five. Christian Eckes rallied to finish sixth while Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski ended up in the top 10.
Notably, Kyle Busch ended up in 15th place ahead of Chase Purdy while Nick Sanchez finished 17th.
There were 19 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 19 laps. In total, all but one of 32 starters finished the event while 13 finished on the lead lap.
Following the third event of the 2024 Craftsman Truck Series season, Tyler Ankrum continues to lead the regular-season standings by five points over Ty Majeski, seven over Corey Heim and 10 over Rajah Caruth.
Results.
1. Rajah Caruth, 38 laps led
2. Tyler Ankrum
3. Corey Heim, 18 laps led
4. Taylor Gray, four laps led
5. Christopher Bell, two laps led
6. Christian Eckes, seven laps led
7. Matt Crafton
8. Zane Smith
9. Grant Enfinger
10. Ty Majeski, 40 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
11. Jake Garcia
12. Bret Holmes
13. Ben Rhodes
14. Connor Jones, one lap down
15. Kyle Busch, one lap down, 13 laps led
16. Chase Purdy, one lap down, one lap led
17. Nick Sanchez, one lap down, five laps led
18. Stewart Friesen, one lap down
19. Connor Mosack, one lap down
20. Tanner Gray, one lap down
21. Mason Massey, one lap down, six laps led
22. Layne Riggs, one lap down
23. Lawless Alan, one lap down
24. Daniel Dye, two laps down
25. Thad Moffitt, two laps down
26. Ty Dillon, two laps down
27. Keith McGee, three laps down
28. Bayley Currey, five laps down
29. Spencer Boyd, six laps down
30. Dean Thompson, nine laps down
31. Matt Mills, nine laps down
32. Timmy Hill – OUT, Electrical
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. The event is scheduled to occur on March 16 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.
