Rajah Caruth capitalized on flawless pit services that got him the lead before he outdueled Corey Heim and Layne Riggs through a 47-lap dash to win the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway on Friday, May 30.
The 22-year-old Caruth from Washington, D.C. led twice for a race-high 61 of 150 scheduled laps. He rolled off the starting grid in 10th place and raced up front from start to finish.
Despite falling short of capturing the event’s first two stage victories on the track to Riggs and Heim, respectively, Caruth’s key move to the overall race victory occurred on pit road. During the first two stage break periods, Caruth’s No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team executed flawless pit stops that enabled the driver to exit pit road first.
With the lead in his possession at the start of the final stage period with 47 laps remaining, Caruth would use both clean air and strong defensive driving through every turn and corner to fend off both Heim and Riggs for the remainder of the event. In addition to weaving his way through lapped traffic, these factors allowed Caruth to emerge victorious for his first elusive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of the 2025 season
On-track qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather. The starting lineup was determined by a metric formula per the NASCAR rulebook. As a result, Corey Heim, winner of last weekend’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, was awarded the pole position. Joining Heim on the front row was Kaden Honeycutt. Before the event, Stewart Friesen dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change.
When the green flag waved, Corey Heim jumped ahead of Kaden Honeycutt and the field through the frontstretch. Heim led through the first two turns. Layne Riggs, who was racing underneath Honeycutt in an early bid for the runner-up spot, got loose as both he and Honeycutt briefly went up the track amid light contact from Riggs. Despite keeping their respective trucks racing straight, both Riggs and Honeycutt would then be mixed in a bevy of battles as the field fanned out the backstretch. Amid the early jostles within the field, Heim led the first lap while Corey Day moved into second place.
During the second lap, the event’s first caution flew due to fluid reported on the track. At the time of caution, rookie Frankie Muniz took his No. 33 Buy American Veteran Ford F-150 entry to the garage due to an engine issue.
The event restarted on the 10th lap following an extensive caution period. Corey Day received a draft from teammate Rajah Caruth to challenge Heim from the outside lane through the frontstretch. Despite Day’s effort to muscle ahead, Heim gained a slight advantage from the inside lane through the first two turns, though Day fought back from the outside lane. Caruth then executed a bold three-wide move beneath both Heim and Day. This allowed the HendrickCars.com duo of Caruth and Day to overtake Heim exiting the backstretch as Day proceeded to lead the next lap.
During the following lap (Lap 12), Heim wasted no time bolting his way back to the front. He used the outside lane to overtake Day through the first two turns. With the lead back in Heim’s possession, Riggs muscled his No. 34 Love’s Ford F-150 entry into the runner-up spot. Day and Caruth dropped to third and fourth, respectively, in front of Honeycutt. As both Caruth and Day fended off Honeycutt for third and fourth on the track, Heim retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Riggs by Lap 15.
Just past the Lap 20 mark, Riggs, who assumed the lead from Heim following a duel through the frontstretch on Lap 19, was leading by four-tenths of a second over Heim. Behind, Caruth, Day and Honeycutt followed suit in the top five ahead of Daniel Hemric, Grant Enfinger, Bayley Currey, Tyler Ankrum and Ben Rhodes while Jake Garcia, rookie Giovanni Ruggiero, William Sawalich, Matt Mills, rookie Connor Mosack, Chandler Smith, rookie Andres Perez de Lara, Tanner Gray, Matt Crafton and Luke Fenhaus trailed in the top 20, respectively.
Through the first 30 scheduled laps, Riggs extended his early advantage to more than a second over Heim while Caruth, Honeycutt and Day continued to pursue in the top five. Riggs would proceed to stabilize his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Heim at the Lap 35 mark while Hemric, Enfinger, Currey, Ankrum and Rhodes all continued to race in the top 10, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Riggs, who spent the previous few laps encountering issues navigating through lapped traffic, among which included Kyle Busch and Matt Crafton, fended off a hard-charging Heim by two-tenths of a second to capture his third Truck stage victory of the 2025 season. Heim settled in second ahead of Caruth, Hemric and Honeycutt. Day, Ankrum, Enfinger, Currey and Rhodes were scored in the top 10, respectively.
By then, Busch, who was mired back in 25th place after he served an early pass-through penalty through pit road due to a restart violation on the 10th lap, managed to fend off Riggs to remain on the lead lap. Crafton, who was mired in 24th place, also managed to remain on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Riggs pitted for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Caruth exited pit road first ahead of Heim, Riggs (who had a slow pit service on the right-front tire area), Honeycutt and Hemric while Day, Currey, Ankrum, Ruggiero and Rhodes followed suit, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Caruth and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Caruth used the inside lane to rocket ahead of Heim and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. With the field fanning out, Honeycutt pursued Heim for the runner-up spot as Caruth led the following lap.
Then on Lap 55, the caution returned when Jack Wood, who was racing within the top-20 mark and trying to get underneath Ty Majeski, spun his No. 91 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet Silverado RST entry through the middle of Turns 3 and 4. While Wood avoided catastrophe as the field dodged him, Akinori Ogata spun and made rear-end contact with the outside wall. At the moment of caution, Caruth had reassumed the lead from a hard-charging Heim despite the latter’s move to lead the previous lap.
The start of the following restart on Lap 60 featured the field fanning out through the frontstretch. Heim used the outside lane and a strong push from Riggs to muscle his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry ahead of Caruth through the first two turns. Heim proceeded to lead the following lap while Riggs closed in on Caruth for the runner-up spot.
Behind, Day would retain fifth place ahead of Enfinger, Currey, Ankrum, Hemric and Garcia while Honeycutt retained fourth place. Amid the battles around the field, Heim stretched his lead to nine-tenths of a second over Caruth by Lap 65.
At the halfway mark on Lap 75, Heim was leading by seven-tenths of a second over runner-up Caruth and by a second over third-place Riggs while Honeycutt and Day pursued in the top five. Behind, Enfinger, Currey, Ankrum, Hemric and Jake Garcia raced in the top 10. By then, Dawson Sutton was up in 11th place ahead of Rhodes, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen and Ruggiero while Perez de Lara, Kyle Busch, Mosack, Tanner Gray and William Sawalich occupied the top-20 spots ahead of Luke Fenhaus, Chandler Smith, Jack Wood, Matt Mills and Matt Crafton, respectively.
By Lap 80, Riggs, who overtook Caruth for the runner-up spot two laps earlier, trailed Heim for the lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second. Heim, however, would stretch his lead to more than a second another five laps later as Caruth, Honeycutt and Day all trailed the lead by in the top-five mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 95, Heim, who extended his lead to more than two seconds, captured his ninth Truck stage victory of the 2025 season. Riggs followed suit in second ahead of Caruth, Day and Honeycutt while Enfinger, Currey, Hemric, Garcia and Ankrum were scored in the top 10, respectively,
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Heim returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Caruth exited pit road first and he was followed by Heim, Enfinger, Day, Honeycutt, Hemric and Currey. Meanwhile, Riggs, who encountered a slow pit service due to issues having his right-front tire removed for a second consecutive time, plummeted to eighth place ahead of Majeski and Ruggiero.
With 47 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Caruth and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Caruth steadily jumped ahead from the inside lane before he muscled ahead of both Heim and the field that had fanned out to lead through the first two turns. Caruth would lead both Heim and Day through the backstretch as Hemric battled and overtook Enfinger for fourth place. As Riggs battled both Enfinger and Honeycutt for fifth place in his late efforts to charge back to the front, Caruth led the following lap over Heim and he would stabilize his lead to four-tenths of a second with 45 laps remaining.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Caruth was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Heim while third-place Hemric trailed by two seconds. With Day racing in fourth place, Riggs carved his way back up to fifth place, where he trailed the lead by three seconds, while Honeycutt, Enfinger, Currey, Majeski and Chandler Smith were in the top 10, respectively.
Ten laps later, Caruth slightly stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Heim while Riggs, who moved into third place a lap earlier, trailed the lead by more than two seconds. Meanwhile, Hemric dropped to fourth place while Day occupied fifth place. With Honeycutt, Enfinger, Currey, Majeski and Chandler Smith racing in the top 10, Caruth, who led by a second a few laps earlier, had his advantage shrink to half a second over Heim with 20 laps remaining.
With 15 laps remaining, Caruth, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, among which included Matt Crafton, maintained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Heim. Behind, Riggs continued to trail in third place by more than a second while both Hemric and Day retained fourth and fifth, respectively, on the track. Meanwhile, Caruth, who managed to navigate his way through a bevy of lapped traffic, had his lead decreased to four-tenths of a second as Heim reeled Caruth back in with 10 laps remaining.
Down to the final five laps of the event, a three-truck battle for the lead ensued as Caruth held a one-tenth-of-a-second lead over Heim. Third-place Riggs joined the battle as the latter trailed by four-tenths of a second.
Through the turns, Heim used the outside lane to try and get to Caruth’s right-rear quarter panel. But Caruth would transition to the outside lane to briefly stall Heim’s momentum. Caruth would then have enough muscle to power his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST entry ahead entering the straightaways. Amid Caruth’s defensive driving on Heim, this allowed Riggs to start making attempts on getting alongside Heim for the runner-up spot.
Over the final four laps, Riggs would try and use the corners to get alongside Heim in his bid for the runner-up spot. Heim, however, would have enough horsepower to fend off Riggs to maintain the spot, all while trying to pursue and reel back Caruth in for the lead. Caruth would then use the straightaways to break the draft and not allow both Heim and Riggs to gain any draft. To go along with Riggs’ repeated attempts to claim the runner-up spot over Heim, Caruth slightly stretched his advantage back up to over half a second as time was slowly running out for both Heim and Riggs.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Caruth remained in the lead by within half a second over both Heim and Riggs. As Caruth retained the lead through the first two turns, Heim would then start to gain a draft on the latter through the backstretch. Heim then tried to peddle his truck as hard as he could to get to Caruth’s rear bumper, but he was not within reach as Caruth managed to cycle back to the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag to win by half a second.
With the victory, Caruth, who entered Nashville situated in 13th place in the driver’s standings with two top-five results through 11 events, notched his second career win in the Craftsman Truck Series division and his first since he won his first series’ event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March 2024. Caruth, who became the fifth series’ regular to be guaranteed a 2025 Truck Series Playoff berth by winning, also achieved his first victory with his new veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion. The victory was also the fourth of the year for Spire Motorsports and the sixth of the 2025 campaign for the Chevrolet nameplate.
“I didn’t expect that at all,” Caruth, who credited his pit crew for the victory, said on the frontstretch on FS1. “[Heim and Riggs] were breathing down my neck the whole run. My pit crew won that race. [They] Got us off pit road twice. Thanks to them. We’ve been off this year, but good to get it done tonight. I’m out of breath, but that was a lot of fun.
He continued, “I just asked myself, ‘How bad you wanted it?’ I don’t know. I just tried my best. We had clean air and their stuff was better, but I just did my best. That was it.”
Corey Heim, who led 58 laps compared to Caruth’s high of 61, settled in second place for his fifth top-two result of the year while Layne Riggs, who led 30 laps and had to rally from two slow pit services, ended up in third place for his fifth top-five result of the year. Despite falling short of winning, both Heim and Riggs were left satisfied with their runs and praised Caruth’s defensive driving for the victory.
“[Caruth] did an awesome job managing from the lead,” Heim said. “I was really free behind him and he made pretty much the right choice every time as far as where I was gonna go. It’s nice racing against people that aren’t going to wreck you racing for the lead, so that was cool and big congrats to him. I would have loved to get my first [Gibson] guitar, but [there’s] always next time.”
“That was unfortunate,” Riggs said. “[My pit crew] just couldn’t get the [right-front] tire back on. We lost spots in the first stop and I got’em back mostly. I just feel like I gave [the race] away on pit road tonight, but overall, the truck has no damage on it. Good racing with [Caruth and Heim] there at the end. We had a good time. I’m leaving here with a smile. Good points day for everybody.”
Daniel Hemric came home in fourth place while Corey Day achieved his first top-five result in the series in fifth place. Kaden Honeycutt, Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, Bayley Currey and Grant Enfinger completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were seven lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 23 of 32 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 12th event of the 2025 Craftsman Truck Series season, Corey Heim leads the regular-season standings by 122 points over Daniel Hemric, 125 over Chandler Smith and 160 over both Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger.
Results:
1. Rajah Caruth, 61 laps led
2. Corey Heim, 58 laps led, Stage 2 winner
3. Layne Riggs, 30 laps led, Stage 1 winner
4. Daniel Hemric
5. Corey Day, one lap led
6. Kaden Honeycutt
7. Chandler Smith
8. Ty Majeski
9. Bayley Currey
10. Grant Enfinger
11. Dawson Sutton
12. Jake Garcia
13. Giovanni Ruggiero
14. Ben Rhodes
15. Kyle Busch
16. Tanner Gray
17. Tyler Ankrum
18. Luke Fenhaus
19. Andres Perez de Lara
20. Jack Wood
21. Stewart Friesen
22. Matt Mills
23. Connor Mosack
24. William Sawalich, one lap down
25. Matt Crafton, one lap down
26. Spencer Boyd, two laps down
27. Clayton Green, two laps down
28. Nathan Byrd, three laps down
29. Tyler Tomassi, three laps down
30. Toni Breidinger, six laps down
31. Akinori Ogata, six laps down
32. Frankie Muniz – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule is the series’ return to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, for the DQS Solutions & Staffing 200. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 7, and air at noon ET on FOX.
