In a season filled with first-time accomplishments, including a historic first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February, Rajah Caruth is primed to experience another first to his racing resume: pursuing a championship within NASCAR’s top three national touring series in 2024.
The 22-year-old Caruth from Washington D.C. makes his inaugural presence in the Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs in a season where he joined forces with Spire Motorsports to pilot the No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST. By then, he had campaigned in his first full-time Truck campaign a year ago, where he ended up in 16th place in the final standings on the strength of four top-10 results while driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for GMS Racing. Previously, he finished in third place in the 2022 ARCA Menards Series standings on the strengths of eight top-five results and 14 top-10 results through 20 starts with Rev Racing.
Caruth commenced the 2024 Truck season on a controversial note, where he ignited a multi-truck wreck on the final lap despite posting his first top-five career result in third place. Then after finishing eighth at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Caruth’s partnership with HendrickCars.com was announced to expand from 10 to the full 23-race Truck schedule.
Things only got brighter for Caruth as he then achieved a breakthrough moment at Las Vegas by winning both his first series’ pole and race victory, where he beat runner-up Tyler Ankrum by eight-tenths of a second and led 34 of 138 laps. In doing so, the DC native joined his mentor Bubba Wallace and the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott as the only African-American competitors to win in NASCAR’s top three major series. He also became the 124th competitor overall to win in the Truck Series.
Since the Vegas victory, Caruth proceeded to finish in the top 10 five additional times over the remaining 13 regular-season events. Throughout the span, he recorded a strong fourth-place run at Nashville Superspeedway in June, notched his second career pole position at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in July and battled to keep himself in contention for a top-five spot within the regular-season standings. With his latest series’ start at Richmond Raceway, where he finished 17th, Caruth has accumulated 43 starts in the Truck Series.
Despite recording zero stage victories throughout the season, Caruth, who holds the fourth-best average-finishing result of full-time competitors in 2024 at 11.4, will commence the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs in fifth place in the Playoff standings with 2,009 points as he strives to deliver the first championship for himself and Spire Motorsports.
Amid a 17th-place run during the 2024 regular-season finale at Richmond, Caruth has set his sights on the venues in the Playoffs he targets as his strengths while keeping his competition within the Playoff close to mind.
“I think going into the Playoffs, I feel really good about going to Bristol, Kansas, Homestead, some really good tracks for me,” Caruth said at Richmond on FS1. “I know what trucks have speed, so thanks to Mr. [Rick Hendrick], Linda [Hendrick], all the men and women at Spire [Motorsports] and Team Chevy for supporting me. I think we can go make some hay later into the fall.”
Rajah Caruth’s 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs and battle for the championship commences at the Milwaukee Mile for the LiUNA! 175. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, August 25, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.
