Spire Motorsports Buckle Up South Carolina 200 Race Advance

The Buckle Up South Carolina 200 will mark just the second time Spire Motorsports will field a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) entry at Darlington Raceway. Corey LaJoie drove the team’s No. 7 Chevy Silverado to a 16th-place finish in the 2023 edition of the Buckle Up South Carolina 200. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados full time in the NCTS. An all-star driver lineup will rotate throughout the 2024 season in the No. 7 Chevy. Rajah Caruth drives the No. 71 entry and Chase Purdy rounds out the team’s fleet of Chevrolets in the No. 77.
The Buckle Up South Carolina 200 will be televised live on FS1 Friday, May 10, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The ninth of 23 NCTS races on the 2024 schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. NASCAR RaceDay’s pre-race coverage on FS1 will take the green flag at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

Kyle Busch – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Kyle Busch will make his fifth and final NCTS start of 2024 for Spire Motorsports in Friday’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200. Across his four starts for Spire this season, he has compiled two wins, 263 laps led and three top-five finishes. The Las Vegas native opened his Spire tenure with a win in February at Atlanta Motor Speedway and was also victorious at Texas Motor Speedway in his most recent start.
Despite having 174 career starts in the Truck Series, this will be Busch’s first time trying to tame ‘The Lady in Black’ in NASCAR’s Truck Series. He has visited Victory Lane at 20 different venues in NCTS action across his illustrious career.
Busch has one win in the NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington (2008) and two wins (2011 & 2013) in NASCAR Xfinity Series action.
BAMF Enterprises will serve as the primary sponsor on Busch’s No. 7 Silverado for Friday night’s 147-lap event. BAMF is a commercial real estate company that focuses on buying existing warehouse facilities and modernizing them to meet Ecommerce demands in the marketplace. The bedtop will feature The Samantha and Kyle Busch Foundation, which is dedicated to advocating for infertility education and awareness and removing financial barriers by granting monetary awards to couples who require fertility treatments to have their own bundle of joy.
In addition to being the winningest driver in Truck Series history with 66 wins, Busch also leads the series all-time with an average finish of 6.4 and ranks second in laps led (8,050).
‘Rowdy’ has won 37.9% (66/174) of the Truck Series races he has entered and finished first or second in 57.4% (100/174). Over his last 33 NCTS starts, he has posted an average finish of 2.8, while registering 17 wins and 29 top-three finishes during that span.
With his win at Atlanta earlier this year, he extended his series-best streak of winning at least one race to 12 consecutive Truck Series seasons (2013-2024).
After eight races, the No. 7 team ranks third in the 2024 NCTS owner point standings. The team has complied an average starting position of 5.1 and an average finish of 10.1 while leading 268 laps this season.
In his first season at Spire Motorsports, crew chief Brian Pattie has led the No. 7 team to two victories across the first eight events this season, both with Busch (Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway). The duo also won twice across five races last year at Kyle Busch Motorsports.
In last year’s NCTS race at Darlington, Pattie guided William Byron to a fourth-place finish.

Kyle Busch Quotes
Are you excited to be racing a truck for the first time at Darlington?
“I’m looking forward to Friday night’s Truck Series race at Darlington. The Truck Series has only raced at Darlington I think maybe 10 times or so and just started going regularly the last five years, but it never worked out for me on my truck schedule. I remember when Darlington came back on the schedule when we first started KBM it was on a Cup off weekend and we had a vacation planned already, so Kasey Kahne got in our truck at KBM and went out and won the race. For whatever reason, the last several years whether it was a Triple Truck Challenge race, or we had other drivers of the 51 that wanted that race, like last year with William Byron, I always kind of got what was leftover on the schedule and Darlington never was one of those. We’ve got a new sponsor onboard with BAMF Enterprises. The truck looks great. We’re also thankful to them for allowing us to raise awareness for The Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund by putting the logo on the bedtop. Hopefully, we can go out and get them to Victory Lane their first time being a sponsor in NASCAR and end my 2024 Truck Series schedule on a high note.”

Rajah Caruth – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Rajah Caruth will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in Friday night’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway.
Caruth started fourth and finished 10th in last week’s race at Kansas Speedway.
HENDRICKCARS.COM is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop thousands of new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protections programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
Caruth has one prior NCTS start and one additional NASCAR Xfinity Series start at the 1.33-mile egg-shaped oval and looks to better his venue-best sixth-place finish in Friday night’s 200-miler.
The Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University senior is currently sixth in the NCTS championship point standings after eight races. He has logged one pole, one win, five top-10’s and eight top-15 finishes. He’s recorded a 10th place average start, a 8.4 average finish and completed 100 percent of the laps contested this season.
With his first career NCTS win and pole position earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Caruth became the third African American driver, alongside NASCAR Hall of Famer, Wendell Scott and current NASCAR Cup Series regular Bubba Wallace, to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race.
The 21-year-old started racing professionally online for the first time in the eNASCAR Ignite Series. He finished 20th in points. Caruth still races with iRacing for recreation.

Rajah Caruth Quotes
Darlington is one of a kind. How do you prepare yourself for the challenge of the track known as “Too Tough to Tame?”
“I am very excited to go to Darlington. This racetrack is a lot of fun to drive and fortunately I’ve had speed there in the past. It’s a super technical and hard racetrack to drive but we’re all up to the challenge. I’ve raced late models down the street in Florence, so this area is always near and dear to my heart. Hopefully, we can get back on our game this week and continue to get back to where we left off in March.”

Chase Purdy – Driver, No.77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

Chase Purdy will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No.77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet Silverado in Friday night’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200.
Purdy heads to Darlington Raceway 17th in the NCTS driver point standings. He started on the pole and finished 28th last weekend at Kansas Speedway.
In four NCTS starts at Darlington Raceway, Purdy has an average start of 18th and an average finish of 29.5. The Meridian, Miss., native has completed 424 of the 601 laps he’s contested (70.5 percent) at the “Track Too Tough To Tame.”
The Buckle Up South Carolina 200 will mark Purdy’s 84th NCTS start and his ninth behind the wheel of the No.77 Bama Buggies Chevrolet.
Purdy’s Gasman, Brandon Chapman, was a part of Wake Forest University football program from 2018-2021. In 2021, he played for Clemson University where he recorded one reception for 11 yards. After his college tenure, he had a professional tryout with the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts in 2022. This is his second full-time season in NASCAR.
Purdy’s Crew Chief Jason Trinchere has six starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Darlington Raceway with Kaulig Racing. In Trinchere’s six starts, he has called two top 10s, including a pole in 2021 with AJ Allmendinger.

Chase Purdy Quotes
What are your thoughts going into Darlington?
“Excited to get to Darlington! Always a unique place to race at and has a very prestigious history. We had good speed there last year before we had issues and I hope we can come back even stronger this year and shake off last week’s mishaps.”
From the Top of the Box

Brian Pattie – Crew Chief, No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado

In his first season at Spire Motorsports, Brian Pattie has led the No. 7 team to two victories, both with Kyle Busch. The duo also won twice across five races last year at KBM.
Pattie also collected a victory with Ron Fellows at Watkins Glen International in 1999 to give him five career NCTS wins.
Pattie was atop the pit box for six wins across 14 seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series and has 11 career victories as a crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Chad Walter – Crew Chief, No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado

Chad Walter has over two decades of experience and began his career with Hendrick Motorsports in 1996.
Walter guided Caruth to his first NCTS win March 1, 2024 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Some of his most notable accomplishments include a pair of Daytona 500 victories (2001 & 2003) with Michael Waltrip, along with Cup Series wins with Steve Park and Terry Labonte.

Jason Trinchere – Crew Chief, No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado

Jason Trinchere earned his Bachelor of Science from Penn State University and began his professional career in 2005 as the race engineer for the iconic No. 75 Spears Manufacturing NCTS team, owned by series’ pioneers Wayne and Connie Spears.
Notable accomplishments include Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 wins with both Ganassi Racing and Penske Racing. He was a key member of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Championship team with driver Joey Logano.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports is a NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race team co-owned by long-time NASCAR industry executives Jeff Dickerson and Thaddeus “T.J.” Puchyr. In 2024, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Corey LaJoie, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, respectively. The team will also field the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados full time in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. An all-star driver lineup will rotate throughout the 2024 season in the No. 7 Chevy. Rajah Caruth will drive the No. 71 entry and Chase Purdy rounds out the team’s fleet of Chevrolets in the No. 77.

Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on April 12, 2024, when Kyle Busch took the took the checkered flag in the SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway.