Rajah Caruth will be returning to JR Motorsports (JRM) for a second consecutive campaign in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for the 2027 season.
The news was slipped by Kelley Earnhardt Miller, CEO/co-owner of JRM, while appearing on “The Morning Drive” from SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday, November 3, as she classified Caruth’s return as “Super exciting.” Later, JRM would take to social media to solidify Caruth’s return for next season.
Caruth, a 24-year-old native of Washington, D.C. is currently campaigning in his first full-time season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division. He spent the previous three seasons (2023-25) competing in the Craftsman Truck Series division between GMS Racing and Spire Motorsports, where he notched his first two career victories during the latter two seasons apiece and achieved the Most Popular Driver Award. Caruth is also a recipient of the Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award and is one of three African-American competitors to achieve victories between NASCAR’s top-three national touring series along with Scott and Bubba Wallace.
Caruth spent the first 22-scheduled events transitioning between JRM’s No. 88 and Jordan Anderson Racing’s No. 32 Chevrolet Camaro entries. Since Iowa Speedway in August, Caruth has been piloting the former entry and will remain in the No. 88 entry for this upcoming weekend’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Through 32 starts in 2026, Caruth has registered two top-five results, nine top-10 results, 89 laps led and an average-finishing result of 17.6. He notched his first career pole during the series’ regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway in mid-August and notched a career-best runner-up result at Iowa Speedway in early August, both of which have occurred in JRM’s No. 88 entry. His best result in Jordan Anderson Racing’s No. 32 entry was seventh place at Pocono Raceway in mid-June. As a 2026 Chase contender, he is currently ranked in 12th place in the Chase standings with 2,205 points.
For the 2027 season, Caruth will have JRM’s No. 88 Chevrolet entry all to himself on a full-time basis to compete for race victories, a return to the Chase and his first championship.
With his plans for next season set, Rajah Caruth will cap off his first year competing in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this upcoming Saturday, November 7, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, for the series’ championship event. The finale’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
