Rajah Caruth wins Most Popular Driver award in Truck Series for 2024

Rajah Caruth wins the 2024 Most Popular Driver award in the NASCAR Truck Series for the first time in his career!

[autotag]Rajah Caruth[/autotag] has officially been named the 2024 Most Popular Driver Award winner in the NASCAR Truck Series. Caruth received the honor at NASCAR’s banquet in Charlotte, North Carolina, as the sport celebrates its 2024 season. This is the first year that he has received the award after joining the Truck Series for the 2023 NASCAR season.

Caruth’s victory comes in a year that saw decent success with Spire Motorsports. The 22-year-old driver ended the season with one win, five top-5 finishes, 12 top-10 finishes, and a seventh-place finish in the point standings. It was a solid season from Caruth, who earned his first career Truck Series victory and improved as a race car driver in 2024.

Overall, Caruth has developed a great following, and if he returns to the Truck Series 2024, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him win the award next season. Caruth, Justin Allgaier, and Chase Elliott are NASCAR’s most popular drivers, and this likely won’t be the last time they each receive this honor.

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Rajah Caruth’s future in NASCAR receives a big update for the 2025 season

Rajah Caruth’s future in NASCAR receives a big update for the 2025 season. Will Caruth move up from the NASCAR Truck Series in 2025?

[autotag]Rajah Caruth[/autotag] started the 2024 NASCAR Truck Series season with one of the most popular wins of the year. Caruth won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, marking his first win in NASCAR’s top-3 levels. Now, the Spire Motorsports driver is looking to win his first Truck Series championship. However, will Caruth move up from the Truck Series after the 2024 season?

According to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Caruth is expected to stay for another full-time Truck Series season in 2025. While things are fluid in NASCAR silly season, this report suggests Caruth won’t be in line for JR Motorsports or even Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, at least for the 2025 season.

Caruth currently drives the No. 71 truck for Spire Motorsports and sits four points below the playoff cut-line with two races left in the Round of 10. After Caruth’s win at Las Vegas, he only has one top-5 finish and five top-10 finishes in 14 races. Caruth likely needs another season of development in the Truck Series, and that appears to be the current plan.

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Bubba Wallace talks about Rajah Caruth’s historic win at Las Vegas in 2024

Bubba Wallace talks about Rajah Caruth’s historic win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2024. Find out what Wallace had to say about Caruth!

[autotag]Bubba Wallace[/autotag] has been a friend and mentor for [autotag]Rajah Caruth[/autotag] throughout his career, and his work finally paid off at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Caruth took his No. 71 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet to victory lane after winning the pole at Las Vegas earlier in the day. It was a popular victory as Caruth has been humble throughout his young career.

Following the Spire Motorsports driver’s victory, Wallace spoke to Sportsnaut’s Matt Weaver about the win and how he felt watching the race unfold. The 23XI Racing driver’s nerves turned into excitement when he realized Caruth would win the event.

“I got nervous with about, what 28 to go after final pit stops, I found myself, my fists were clinched. I’m like, ‘That’s weird, relax,’ and then 15 to go, sitting on the couch like super zoned in,” Wallace said. “10 to go, I got up, and that’s where I was. I just didn’t want [Rajah Caruth] to get ahead of himself. He had such a massive lead, and you could see him start to give it up a little bit, but that was more so him having a two-second lead and not needing to make a mistake.”

“I was really proud of that. [Tyler Ankrum] was closing in, but I was sure he was saving his stuff, and once he took the white, like, a sigh of relief. Once he made it through 3 and 4, home free, and that was really cool.”

It certainly was really cool as Wallace’s wife, Amanda, posted a video showing his reaction when Caruth took the checkered flag. It was a great moment for everyone involved as the 21-year-old driver finally captured his first NASCAR race. For Wallace, he hopes to have his moment at Phoenix Raceway next weekend with Caruth watching him in the same way.

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Rajah Caruth ready for breakout NASCAR season after win at Las Vegas in 2024

Rajah Caruth looks ready for a breakout NASCAR season after his first career victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2024.

[autotag]Rajah Caruth[/autotag] only had four top-10 finishes in the NASCAR Truck Series during his rookie season last year, and that has almost been matched in 2024. Caruth has two top-5 finishes and three top-10 finishes through three races; however, the most important statistic is his first career NASCAR victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend.

The 21-year-old driver moved from GMS Racing to Spire Motorsports, and it has come with great success. Caruth won the pole for the Truck Series race at Las Vegas and held off a hard-charing Tyler Ankrum in the closing laps. It was a historic victory as Caruth became the third Black driver in history to win a NASCAR race, joining Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.

Yet, this is just the beginning for Caruth. The driver of the No. 71 truck has a 4.0 average finishing position and appears to be on the verge of breaking through for more victories. This doesn’t mean he will go out and win 10 or more races, but he should win multiple. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Caruth as a championship favorite come the playoffs.

It is so early in the 2024 NASCAR season, but Caruth has established himself as a consistent contender. The Spire Motorsports driver has the talent to win races, and with one year of Truck Series racing under his belt, this is the perfect situation. Caruth and Spire Motorsports are on the rise, and they will be a lethal combination to deal with throughout the year.

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Rajah Caruth wins the Truck Series race at Las Vegas, full results and race recap

Rajah Caruth wins the NASCAR Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Check out the full results and race recap from Las Vegas!

The NASCAR Truck Series arrived at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for its first intermediate race of the 2024 season after Nick Sanchez and Kyle Busch opened the new campaign with victories. Two drivers with connection to Spire Motorsports won a Truck Series race and that trend continued at Las Vegas on Friday night.

[autotag]Rajah Caruth[/autotag] broke through for his first career NASCAR victory in the Truck Series at Las Vegas. Caruth won the pole for the race and then held off a hard-charging Tyler Ankrum in the last 10 laps. Ty Majeski won Stage 1 and 2, and appeared to have the best truck; however, a late-race speeding penalty ending any hopes of him sweeping the night.

Caruth becomes the third Black driver in history to win a NASCAR national series race, joining Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace. If the Spire Motorsports driver displays the speed he showed on Friday throughout the season, this won’t be his last victory.

Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 finishing order:

  1. No. 71 Rajah Caruth
  2. No. 18 Tyler Ankrum
  3. No. 11 Corey Heim
  4. No. 17 Taylor Gray
  5. No. 1 Christopher Bell
  6. No. 19 Christian Eckes
  7. No. 88 Matt Crafton
  8. No. 91 Zane Smith
  9. No. 9 Grant Enfinger
  10. No. 98 Ty Majeski
  11. No. 13 Jake Garcia
  12. No. 32 Bret Holmes
  13. No. 99 Ben Rhodes
  14. No. 66 Conner Jones
  15. No. 7 Kyle Busch
  16. No. 77 Chase Purdy
  17. No. 2 Nick Sanchez
  18. No. 52 Stewart Friesen
  19. No. 45 Connor Mosack
  20. No. 15 Tanner Gray
  21. No. 02 Mason Massey
  22. No. 38 Layne Riggs
  23. No. 33 Lawless Alan
  24. No. 43 Daniel Dye
  25. No. 46 Thad Moffitt
  26. No. 25 Ty Dillon
  27. No. 22 Keith McGee
  28. No. 41 Bayley Currey
  29. No. 76 Spencer Boyd
  30. No. 5 Dean Thompson
  31. No. 42 Matt Mills
  32. No. 56 Timmy Hill

Rajah Caruth joins Spire Motorsports full-time in NASCAR Truck Series for 2024

Spire Motorsports announced on Wednesday morning that Rajah Caruth will drive full-time in the No. 71 truck during the 2024 NASCAR season.

[autotag]Spire Motorsports[/autotag] announced on Wednesday morning that [autotag]Rajah Caruth[/autotag] will drive the No. 71 truck full-time during the 2024 NASCAR Truck Series season. Caruth will have Hendrickcars.com as the primary sponsor for 10 of the 23 races. The 21-year-old driver spent the 2023 season with GMS Racing before it ceased operations after Phoenix Raceway.

Caruth is a perfect fit for what Spire Motorsports is trying to build, and pairing him with veteran crew chief Chad Walter is the best way to maximize results. He has one year of full-time Truck Series racing under his belt, so seeing him do well in 2024 wouldn’t be shocking. Caruth had four top-10 finishes, ending the 2023 season with a 16th-place finish in the point standings.

Caruth will join Chase Purdy as a full-time teammate, with Kyle Busch expected to run select races in a third entry. Spire Motorsports will also provide a truck for Nick Sanchez and Rev Racing. Overall, this is a great hire for Spire Motorsports as Caruth looks for success in NASCAR. Caruth is a really talented driver and should maximize his abilities at Spire Motorsports.

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3 candidates for Richard Childress Racing in NASCAR Xfinity Series for 2024

Richard Childress Racing needs to replace Sheldon Creed in the No. 2 car so here are three good candidates for the seat in 2024!

It was announced on Wednesday evening that Sheldon Creed won’t return to Richard Childress Racing for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. Creed’s departure is a shocking announcement that creates an opening for one of the best teams in the Xfinity Series. So, which three drivers would make the most sense for Richard Childress Racing next year?

[autotag]Christian Eckes[/autotag] is the obvious choice as he has done very well in the NASCAR Truck Series with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. Eckes has three wins in 2023 and sits in a position to make the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway. The driver of the No. 19 truck would be the best option for a promotion in the Truck Series and Richard Childress Racing could be the team.

[autotag]Rajah Caruth[/autotag] would be another solid option for Richard Childress Racing as he has turned some heads over the last few years. Caruth runs full-time for GMS Racing in the Truck Series but needs a ride for 2024 with the team ceasing operations. The driver of the No. 24 truck will drive for Hendrick Motorsports in the Xfinity Series at Phoenix so teams certainly recognize his talent.

Finally, [autotag]Parker Retzlaff[/autotag] would be a sleeper in the sweepstakes for the No. 2 car in 2024. Retzlaff currently drives the No. 31 Xfinity car for Jordan Anderson Racing in the Xfinity Series and has six top-10 finishes this season. the 20-year-old driver could receive his best opportunity in NASCAR to this point and he would certainly put his talent on display after an impressive 2023 season.

Eckes, Caruth, and Retzlaff would all be very good options for Richard Childress Racing if the team is focused on replacing Creed with a young talented driver. If not, the organization could shift its focus to a veteran, such as Jeffrey Earnhardt or Ty Dillon. Either way, there should be plenty of options for Richard Childress Racing with its No. 2 Xfinity car.

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NASCAR podcast: Warrick Scott Sr.

Warrick Scott Sr. is the founder of the Wendell Scott Foundation, which is doing great things for the community of Danville, Virginia, and serving as a full-season sponsor of Rajah Caruth (pictured above) this season. Scott joins The Racing Writer’s …

Warrick Scott Sr. is the founder of the Wendell Scott Foundation, which is doing great things for the community of Danville, Virginia, and serving as a full-season sponsor of Rajah Caruth (pictured above) this season. Scott joins The Racing Writer’s Podcast to discuss the work the foundation does, the success stories and those that don’t work out, what it’s meant to the Scott family to be a NASCAR sponsor and diversity in the sport.

How 20-year-old HBCU student Rajah Caruth went from virtual racing to NASCAR

Just five years ago, Rajah Caruth had zero racing experience. Now, he’s got a full-time NASCAR Truck Series ride.

The first time Rajah Caruth climbed behind the wheel of a race car, he knew nothing about it would be easy.

A rising senior at a Washington, D.C. high school in the summer of 2019, his only racing experience was on a virtual track with his iRacing rig. He wasn’t scared but had no idea what to expect, and he certainly wasn’t prepared for the physicality his virtual world could never fully simulate.

He instantly felt the pressure and vibrations in his hips, chest and legs, initially struggling to merge his iRacing experience with his novice on-track skills. On a real-life track, the stakes are exponentially higher.

“You have a reset button on [iRacing], so there’s almost zero consequences for crashing,” Caruth says. “Versus in real life, you slip a tire at one point or place your vehicle in a spot it shouldn’t be in, it’s game over.”

He doesn’t come from a family of racers with NASCAR ties. The Caruth family’s D.C. home is about 100 miles from the nearest NASCAR track. His parents work in academia and stressed education, despite college not being a priority for some aspiring racers, many of whom begin competing before they’re teenagers.

But Caruth’s fixation on NASCAR and becoming a professional driver only grew as he did. Already an avid student of the sport, Caruth kept digging.

Now, the 20-year-old racer and Winston-Salem State junior, who had zero NASCAR or racing experience just five years ago, is making his full-time debut in the third-tier NASCAR Truck Series on Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

Caruth, piloting the No. 24 Chevrolet for GMS Racing, is in an exclusive club with Cup Series driver William Byron, believed to be the only other driver who traversed the rare but conceivable route of converting simulated racing into a NASCAR career.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ClPOPx_gIv1/

***

Rajah Caruth is a Cars kid. His racing curiosity was piqued as a toddler with his first glimpse of Lightning McQueen before evolving into a full-blown motorsports obsession.

“Racing was always it for me,” Caruth tells me in the lobby of a downtown Los Angeles hotel ahead of NASCAR’s Clash at the Coliseum earlier this month.

Dressed in all black with a Chevy pullover and Chicago colorway Air Jordan 1s, he’s reserved, at first, but it only takes a couple minutes for his charismatic personality to burst through. He seems to shed initial signs of fatigue from his coast-to-coast flight earlier that day, each response becoming more animated and detailed. He’s just excited to talk racing.

He’s got an air of coolness about him, though he’s quick to admit even he has no idea how he’s balancing his fledgling career with his motorsports management major — four classes a term, all in person, while getting all As and Bs for the first time last semester, he says. But his parents insisted he have a backup plan.

Entranced by the cars and their speed, he was the kid who coaxed his family into planning Sundays after church around NASCAR races. Especially the Daytona 500, Sunday’s Cup Series season opener. He’d douse his Diecast cars in Wite-Out to create his own customized paint schemes and endlessly studied racing on YouTube. Motorsports even made its way into school projects, as he idolized Wendell Scott, the first Black driver to win a Cup race in 1963, and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

When he saw NASCAR up close for the first time on a surprise family trip to Richmond Raceway when he was 12, his zeal intensified. NASCAR, especially at the 0.75-mile short track, blitzes the senses with deafening engines and the lingering smell of burnt rubber.

“Everything just seemed so infectious,” Caruth recalls. “From that point forward, it was like, I want to be a race car driver.”

iRacing, he thought, was going to help him get there. So as a rising high school junior in 2018, he shifted his focus.

Juggling school, basketball and track, plus a summer job, Caruth and his family fundraised for an iRacing rig. Every spare second he had was spent in that seat, teaching himself to be a better racer.

“That was my only shot,” he says.

And it worked.

NASCAR driver Rajah Caruth sits in his truck before a race
(Daylon Barr)

***

Caruth subscribes to the idea that you get out of iRacing what you put in. Treat it like a professional craft to master, not a video game, and you could end up with professional results. But making it to NASCAR requires more than that. Opportunity and financial support are necessities, and he needed to maximize iRacing to procure each piece.

The summer he turned 16, he was racing online for the first time in the eNASCAR Ignite Series, and his rapid improvements elevated him into NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program the next year as the first participant with a majority-iRacing background.

Through the program, which NASCAR estimates has about 80 alumni, and help from Max Siegel’s Rev Racing team, Caruth was finally behind the wheel of a real race car. The following season in 2020, he won his first Late Model race at South Carolina’s Greenville-Pickens Speedway.

He went from iRacing to Legends to Late Models and ARCA, and after just four years, he made his NASCAR debut with seven Xfinity and four Truck races, all in 2022.

“That program gives you the leniency to develop and make mistakes, for the most part, and grow into your abilities and who you are as a person,” he says.

In his third Xfinity start, he made an unfortunate error, crashing on Lap 2 and taking out another driver. He says veterans — Bubba Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Austin Dillon among them — were quick to reach out. They know the learning curve is almost insurmountable, but they also recognize significant potential in young drivers, says Brandon Thompson, NASCAR’s VP of diversity and inclusion.

“I’ve gotten that same text from drivers or from team owners or whoever it may be, like, ‘Hey, we’ve all been there,’” Wallace says. “The biggest thing you can do, though, is make sure you don’t do that again because that means you’ve learned from it. … I’ll go to his ass on certain things, but I keep it real with him.”

***

Making the jump from virtual to real-life racing was hardly seamless, Caruth remembers.

iRacing feeds drivers an abundance of information, and simulators are a common tool for the best of the best. But the virtual world can’t simulate all the physical sensations from a real car and track. It can be overwhelming.

He had to shake his bad habits, like toning down the aggression, not oversteering and not smashing the gas and destroying his rear tires. He reminds himself to be more present with his actual race car.

“I can’t be on 10 all the time,” he jokes.

He’s extra hard on himself, especially when, at first, the real-life results weren’t there. He describes 2019 and 2020 as “a pretty tumultuous” time.

Even as he adapted to real cars and tracks, confidence eluded him. So he turned to his family for guidance and began therapy last year, saying the combination led him to a turning point in the past six months as he released some of his self-inflicted pressure.

Rajah Caruth stands near his race car at a track with his father, sister and mother
Rajah Caruth with his father, Roger; sister Liyah; and mother, Samantha. (Daylon Barr)

“I’ve kind of learned to give myself grace,” Caruth says. “You’ve got to hold yourself accountable, but you cannot have negative self-talk.”

Not all the attention the rising star has gained is positive, though. He faces misinformed stigmas about starting in iRacing and seizing his Drive for Diversity opportunity as a young Black man breaking into a predominantly white sport with an ugly, racist history.

Both factors fuel his haters, Caruth says, despite NASCAR progressing to be more inclusive and diverse. He’s been booed at races and trolled on social media, leading him to delete the apps from his phone. Just a few weeks ago, during an iRacing event, he recalls a racer he passed a couple times chirping at him afterward: “‘Everybody knows how you got your ride.’”

Those comments are “pretty frequent,” Caruth says. And if critics aren’t questioning his credentials as an iRacer, they point to the Drive for Diversity program as giving him an unearned ride, when the program’s goal is quite literally the opposite. Aiming to provide equitable opportunities in motorsports for those historically discriminated against, the program helped launch NASCAR careers for Wallace, Daniel Suárez and Kyle Larson.

Previously the only Black full-time driver in NASCAR, Wallace is, unfortunately, all too familiar with taunts and disingenuous arguments about how he got his Cup ride. Because of that, Wallace, as a mentor and friend, has been able to help Caruth navigate his growing spotlight, encouraging him to tune it all out.

“Bubba has been one of the most helpful to me, not only for on-the-race-track things but … also on a personal level, like understanding the similar things we go through,” Caruth says. “Since I was in Legend cars, it’s been big to have him in my corner.”

NASCAR drivers Bubba Wallace and Rajah Caruth laugh while standing near cars on a race track
Bubba Wallace and Rajah Caruth (Daylon Barr)

By 2021, only about three years after he began iRacing, Caruth’s shot at a full-time NASCAR ride was in sight. But he needed financial support to help him advance from the ARCA racing to the next level: the NASCAR Truck Series.

When Warrick Scott — founder and CEO of the Wendell Scott Foundation honoring his late grandfather — met Caruth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2021, he asked the young driver what was needed. Simply, help securing sponsors.

“It resonated with me because we’re the family that never got sponsored, and I understood that he would need that help,” says Warrick, seeing Caruth’s potential for global stardom.

Warrick was determined to provide an opportunity that escaped his grandfather, so the Wendell Scott Foundation teamed up with GMS Racing to be Caruth’s primary sponsor for the 2023 season.

With Wendell Scott’s name on the hood of Caruth’s truck more than 60 years after the Hall of Famer’s first NASCAR start, there’s a clear throughline connecting him to Caruth and the future of the sport. For Warrick, the foundation’s investment in Caruth is not hollow; it furthers Wendell’s legacy and posthumously celebrates his career while also offering Caruth the chance to build on the history of Black NASCAR drivers.

“His parents have raised him to be a leader and to be a champion, so that’s my expectation,” Warrick says.

“This is not some type of diversity and inclusion ploy. No, no, no. This is a collaborative effort through strategic partnerships, racing proficiency and internal know-how that we think will create a situation for him to become the best.”

A truck speeds down a race track with the crowd blurred behind it
Rajah Caruth during practice for the NASCAR Truck Series NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

***

About five years after he conceived his path to NASCAR, Caruth’s experience with iRacing and on a real track now complement each other.

Even with his full-time Truck Series ride, he says he’ll continue relying on iRacing, not only for reps but also to help prepare him for tracks he’s never raced on, like Circuit of The Americas, where he’ll compete in his first NASCAR road course race in March.

With an insatiable hunger, Caruth studies his own film and that of racers he wants to emulate while drivers, like Wallace, share competitive feedback and push him to utilize the track limits, he says. He’s seemingly always taking notes, perhaps compensating for having only run a few more than 100 races on a real track.

“He’s really a student of the sport trying to hone his craft, and I truly admire the efforts he’s made,” says Johnson, a co-owner of Legacy Motor Club, the sister organization to GMS Racing.

“The interest he’s created in the corporate world and the way he carries himself and conducts himself and his performance on track so far, he has all the ingredients to be a Cup champion.”

NASCAR driver Rajah Caruth writes with a pen on the roof of his car at a race track
(Daylon Barr)

One thing clear to anyone watching Caruth race is his speed. His crew chief, Chad Walter, says thanks to iRacing and studying YouTube videos, Caruth is able to share detailed feedback about how the truck is handling in a way drivers twice his age are unable to describe.

“I really don’t want to jinx anything, but success is not as far around the corner as he thinks,” the veteran crew chief said. “It really isn’t.”

Caruth easily rattles off the many areas for improvement but is almost speechless about where he excels — somehow all while exuding confidence. The self-described superhero geek invokes Captain America’s “whatever it takes” Endgame line as his mentality for rising to the Cup Series.

Though guided by others before him, Caruth paved his own way to the NASCAR Truck Series. But he hopes other aspiring drivers, especially children of color, will try to follow him.

Comfortably a member of Gen Z — a demographic the sport needs to engage — NASCAR and those in racing see his star-power potential too. He joined icon Richard Petty, a Legacy Motor Club team ambassador, last month in the Rose Bowl Parade on NASCAR’s 75th anniversary float celebrating the sport’s history and future.

NASCAR legend Richard Petty and Truck Series driver Rajah Caruth wave while standing on a float in the 2023 Rose Parade.
Richard Petty and Rajah Caruth in the 2023 Rose Parade. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker)

“Rajah is in a unique position because he represents both the future of what Cup racing could be one day, but also the present of someone who is experiencing success in the moment,” Thompson says.

“Standing next to someone who has 200 wins and has defined the sport for a generation, having Rajah be there to sort of represent what that next generation of drivers looks like, I think it’s pretty significant.”

He possesses a sophistication unusual for someone who was a teenager last year. He craves Game 7 moments on the track, now trusting his instincts and abilities as he gains invaluable experience. He wants to be the best, ever, in NASCAR, and that, in his eyes, would mean surpassing Johnson.

“I feel like he’s the best of all time,” Caruth says, “and that is who I want to beat one day.”

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