LAS VEGAS, Nev: Heading into Friday night’s Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, Rajah Caruth’s average finish in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series this season sits at a disappointing 29.5.
But that statistic doesn’t tell the whole story. Back behind the wheel of the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado this season, Caruth has shown speed in the opening races at Daytona and Atlanta. However, the unpredictable nature of superspeedway racing has worked against the 23-year-old, leaving him with a best finish of 29th and sitting 30th in the championship standings.
“Hopefully, tonight goes well for us,” Caruth said Friday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We haven’t had the best start of the year, but hopefully, things go smoothly tonight, and we have a good race.”
“From a performance standpoint, because it’s not like we ran bad at those tracks. It just didn’t, didn’t finish. So, it’s nice to kind of get to some racing where it’s more determined by driver skill, which Atlanta was, I think, but now it’s like, with no engine restrictions and actually handling kind of mattered.
“It’s kind of getting into the bread and butter the season. So, I think it’d be different if we went to Phoenix, we went to COTA (Circuit of the Americas), and we were in this spot because those are, like, racing where it’s not as much of a wild card, but that’s kind of the nature of the truck schedule, kind of starting a little bit hectic and taking a little bit before we get into the schedule.
“But I feel good about the next three race tracks for sure, tracks I’ve run well at, and I’ve got some good experience set. So (it will) be nice to kind of rebound from the start of the year at Daytona, Atlanta tonight, and then start for the next two weeks.”
Fortunately for Caruth, he’s returning to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track where he made a statement just a year ago. After a strong showing in practice, he won the pole and captured his first career Truck Series win and secured a spot for his Mooresville, N.C.-based team in the Playoffs.
Caruth went on to deliver three more top-five finishes and nine more top-10s throughout the remainder of the 2024 season. Despite a determined Playoff run, his bid to make the Championship 4 fell short, and he ultimately finished seventh overall.
Still, if there’s any place to turn the tide and put Caruth back in the spotlight, Las Vegas is it. After all, hitting the jackpot twice isn’t out of the question.
“I mean, for me, it’s not a question about winning a race this year, just a matter of when, and hopefully it’s more than once,” Caruth added. “But until that comes, you know, we just have to finish races and get stage points.”
To bolster his chances, Caruth qualified his No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado sixth for Friday night’s 134-lap race. He’s aiming to take advantage of the outside lane and stay in the mix, even with the colder-than-usual conditions.
“We’ll be in a good spot tonight, starting inside the top 10 and being on the top. I feel good about that just to start the race. So, I think for me, it doesn’t change my approach, just because, for me, I’m just looking at it a lap-by-lap positioning and doing so by positioning myself in the best spot that I can be, whether it’s making sure I protect my right side or not throwing a bad block, or making sure I don’t get my air shot off stuff like that.”
Regardless of Friday night’s outcome, Caruth isn’t putting extra pressure on himself to deliver. Instead, the rising star is leaning on the resources around him—his athletic coaches, psychologist, friends, and even a recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download featuring former NASCAR Cup Series driver Carl Edwards—to stay grounded and focused on the bigger picture: a shot at the Truck Series championship on Friday, October 31, 2025.
“I don’t put that pressure on myself,” added Caruth. “Carl (Edwards) had mentioned that he had in his notebook of… he literally said, If I win, I’m good. If I’m not, like, I’m gonna crash out. And it’s like, for me, I literally had that same mentality for the longest I’ve kept notebooks since I started racing, and I’ve had I had that mentality for a long time, and it worked at first, because I would perform well and have that success. But then, compared to other sports, you lose way more than you win in racing.
“So that was a really hard thing for me to work through. And like I mentioned, Josh (Wise), Scott (Speed), the people in the Chevrolet program, my circle, they just really helped me work through that of just understanding like to detach from the outcome and just focus on your process, and not defining success or happiness based off of how stuff for the racetrack goes.
“You know, because you could do everything right. You could do your homework. You can execute it to a and hit oil on the racetrack. You run over a pin and start at the back. I mean, you could get hit in the door and cut a tire. Literally, anything could happen, so just detaching from that is the biggest thing, and honestly, it’s helped me get better.
“That’s how I ran better last year, and obviously, hopefully, we’ll continue to do that this season.”
It’s often said in racing that winning solves everything. Last year, Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick and his automotive empire, HendrickCars.com, stepped in to support Caruth, easing potential sponsorship concerns for the team and driver.
With that support continuing into 2025, Caruth remains deeply grateful for the investment Hendrick and his team have made.
“I think I’m just really, really thankful for Mr. H (Hendrick), Mrs. Linda (Hendrick), everybody at the Automotive Group for believing in me. To be honest, I think they kind of just took a leap of faith with me in (20)23 when I ran the Xfinity car at Phoenix, and then they’ve just supported me really up through the way through the success and the wrecks and everything in between.
“So, I’ve been really thankful to have their support, and hopefully, I continue to kind of garner it as we go. But even if it ended today, I’d be super thankful just because I wouldn’t have been racing full-time last year, probably, if not for them. And I’m just really thankful for that opportunity, and hopefully, I can continue to make the most of them and represent them proudly.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
