Rajah Caruth endured a roller-coaster run in his first event as a Chase contender in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division that concluded on a down note during the Fleetio 200 at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, September 5.
The 24-year-old Caruth from Washington, D.C., took the green flag in ninth place and was racing in the exact spot when he made an unscheduled pit stop under green flag conditions on Lap 26 after reporting an alternator issue, later turned fuel pickup issue, to his No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry. After his pit crew went under the hood to diagnose the issue, Caruth returned to the track and was pinned two laps behind the leaders.
During the event’s first caution period that first flew on Lap 33 due to Preston Pardus spinning on the frontstretch, mixed pit strategies amongst the field ensued, which kept Caruth pinned two laps down. After settling in 33rd place at the conclusion of the first stage period and notching no stage points, he pitted for service prior to the start of the second stage period.
In the early stages of the second stage period, Caruth cycled his way back on the lead lap after he regained his two-lost laps: the first on Lap 59 when Daniel Dye wrecked on the frontstretch and the second on Lap 69 when Corey Day wrecked William Sawalich following the latter duo’s run-ins. Despite navigating his way back to the front, Caruth did not accumulate stage points when the second stage period concluded as he was scored in 17th place.
After enduring a slow pit service that had him restarting outside the top-20 mark for the third and final stage period, Caruth spent the latter stage’s first three laps navigating his way up to 16th place when a multi-car wreck with 46 laps remaining generated an opportunity for Caruth, who returned to pit road for four fresh tires. During the final restart with 40 laps remaining, he used the tires to motor up as high as sixth place on the track.
Then with eighth laps remaining, Caruth’s late run was spoiled when he fell off the pace for a second time due to a fuel pickup issue. Despite coasting his entry back to pit road after coasting it for a full lap under reduced pace on the track when weaving it back and forth, Caruth lost two laps to the leaders for a second time and took the checkered flag in 26th place.
With the result, Caruth, who commenced his first O’Reilly Chase in 12th place in the standings with 2,020 points, racked up a total of 11 points and retains his points position. He now faces a 104-point deficit to commence his first Chase for the series’ championship. Despite capping off his first Chase event on a low note, Caruth leaned on the positives and the on-track pace gained from the Darlington event.
“[I’m] Just looking at the positives,” Caruth said on the CW Network. “We were respectable in the first stage before we had, I’m guessing it was a fuel pickup issue. No way to totally know before we go back and read and dissect it. I just was proud of all our effort. We could have easily took ourselves out of it by pusying the issue or putting ourselves in bad spots working through traffic. We got up to sixth place and was in good position to get a good result, but it happens, man. It’s sports.”
To go along with the positives, Caruth expressed confidence as he looks ahead to the remaining eight Chase events and draw both himself and his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team back into championship contention prior to this year’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.
“I definitely feel that confidence,” Caruth added. “I definitely feel it. Just gotta keep showing up and keep working hard. We’ll just keep digging.”
Rajah Caruth’s Chase for the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship resumes next Saturday, September 12, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, for the Nu Way 225. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
