Young Rajah Caruth makes racing history
It has been nearly 60 years since Wendell Scott became the first Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race in 1963, Bubba Wallace was the second in 2021. The third name that joined the list was Rajah Caruth last weekend- He took the checkered flag at the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 in the NASCAR Truck Series in Las Vegas.
By Earl Heath | Contributing Sports Writer
It has been nearly 60 years since Wendell Scott became the first Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race in 1963, Bubba Wallace was the second in 2021. The third name that joined the list was Rajah Caruth last weekend- He took the checkered flag at the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 in the NASCAR Truck Series in Las Vegas.
“Definitely feeling disbelief,” Caruth said in a phone interview per Washington Post “Everything worked out well with the race plan, our pit strategy. I’m just in disbelief that success happened so soon this year.”
Caruth was able to survive two major crash’s. A bad pit stop, five seconds off the pace, cost Caruth track positions and he had to charge back to the front in the final stage. After a final well-executed pit stop, Caruth was able to lead with 20 laps remaining. From the front of the pack, with history on the line, Caruth was able to defend the lead until he collected his historic checkered flag.
“I stayed cool, we lost track position at little portions of the race and we stayed in the game,” Caruth told NASCAR on Fox after climbing out at the start/finish line, “It was just one step, one punch, one round at a time. My guys had me a great stop and we executed. There’s more to come.”
Three races into the Truck season, he had finished in the Top 10-three times, the top five twice including the win this week. He’s also led 39 laps placing him fourth in the drivers’ standings.
This led Rick Hendrick to a day before the Las Vegas race to extend HendrickCars.com sponsorship of Caruth and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to the full season.
For Caruth, Friday’s win brought confirmed the next step in a journey that has seen the 21-year-old evolve from a racing fan into a champion.
The Charismatic Caruth was born in Atlanta and grew up in Washington, D.C., where he attended high school at School Without Walls. His racing interest and NASCAR dreams began online with a racing simulator in the kitchen of his Northwest Washington home.
He relocated to North Carolina and joined NASCARS Diversity Program. It’s the same one that produced Wallace and Mexico’s Daniel Suárez. He is a senior at Winston-Salem State, an HBCU in North Carolina, and has maneuvered both responsibilities as a driver and a motorsports management major really well. He is due to graduate in December.
He will have rounded knowledge of the sport all-around.
