BRISTOL, Tenn.: Coming to the first real short track of the season. It was Rajah Caruth versus Bristol Motor Speedway.
After his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, the full-time Spire Motorsports driver knew that it was a whole different kind of race that he would face in the Weather Guard Truck Race.
The No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet driver said, “I think it just comes down to doing the same thing each and every week, with minor adjustments as necessary.
Caruth continued, “The success I feel comes in process and consistency, not in big swings or big moments. One step, one punch, one round at a time.”
Starting Stage 1 in the sixth qualifying position, the team reminded the Washington, D.C. native to be patient with the race track.
The resin that the track lays down to help with grip would need to warm back up, and the track showed him that when Caruth got a little sideways, he made a good save.
After finishing the first stage in 11th place, Caruth came to pit road for a set of new Goodyear tires, fuel, and some adjustments. Unfortunately, he slipped through the pit box and had to be pushed back into his pit box to avoid a penalty, but that would take time and leave him in the 24th position to start the second stage.
Battling his way forward in the stage, Caruth would work his way back up to the 21st place by the end of stage two, but once again would have problems on pit road.
Once again, pit road was very tight, making it difficult to get into the pit boxes. Caruth would come into his box sideways, but the NASCAR officials deemed that he pitted outside of the box and would have to serve a penalty on the restart that would put him at the end of the longest line.
“Pit road, I just really didn’t adjust well for my box with how hot my brakes were and kind of how long my pedal was getting, stated Caruth. “So kind of my fault for the pit stops. Just two times, I slid, trying to also go far for the 17 (Taylor Gray).”
Once again, the Spire Motorsports driver worked his way through the field. Crew Chief Chad Walter and his spotter coached him through the field to eighth place, where he finished the WEATHER GUARD Truck Race.
The team told their driver he would have to maximize the bad nights to win championships. Clearly, that is what Rajah Caruth did.
Four races into the season, he has one win, two top fives, and four top-10 finishes and currently sits third in the series standings.
With that being said, Caruth seemed pleased with an eighth-place finish.
“It was a lot of fun, but for eighth to be a bad day with everything that happened, I think we’ll be scary here in the fall. ”
Next up for Rajah Caruth and the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN® Truck Series is the XPEL 225 at Circuit of the Americas on March 23, 2024, at 1:30 PM ET.
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @grace3140 or email at [email protected]
