MARTINSVILLE, Va.: Rajah Caruth came to Martinsville Speedway with one goal in mind: to make it to the Championship 4 to end the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series 2024 season. Unfortunately, that goal was crushed when brake issues ruined his night.
With the green flag waving for the start of Stage 1, the Spire Motorsports driver would have a pretty uneventful stage, but when the caution flag came out on Lap 37 for a stalled vehicle on the track, his woes began and continued throughout the rest of the race.
Restarting in the ninth place and a good position, however, the No. 71 HendrickCars.com driver and others would bump and bang their way through the first two turns, and in doing that, Caruth would cause damage to his front left brakes.
Continuing on in Stage 2, his team tells him to stay out because if he comes to pit road, he will lose a lap and be done. That would be no easy task as Caruth had no brakes, and on Lap 95, he would go one lap down to the leader.
A late-stage caution in the Zip Buy Now Pay Later 200 would come out on Lap 99 and end the stage under caution.
The Washington, D.C. native would bring his truck to his team on pit road, and they would inspect the left front brakes.
Unfortunately, the team would tell their driver that “the brake pad is broken off the hub.
They sent him back onto the track to catch up with the rest of the field and then brought him back to pit road when they would bring Caruth to the garage to fix the brakes as it was too dangerous to him and others to have him out on the track.
“Leave the window up. Do not get out of the truck,” his crew chief, Chad Walter, told Caruth.
Trusting his team to do what was best for him and the team, the young driver admitted, “At first, I thought it was a left front tire, but turns out there was an issue with the brake rotor and things that I don’t understand so I don’t know if it was something that I did.
“I hit the curb one time when I got on the inside of the 77 and didn’t get a lane, so I had to bail cause I can’t wreck a teammate.”
Returning to the field, 20 laps down on Lap 126, in 33rd place, Caruth knew that he had to be respectful of the field and keep his truck in one piece.
Using his head and keeping out of the melee to ensue, Rajah Caruth would end his day in the 31st position and out of contention for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship race and the Playoffs.
Disappointed at the end of the race, Caruth would lament, “Definitely a heartbreak for sure. I didn’t even get a real chance especially with how crazy it got there at the end.”
Even with his run for the championship ending, Caruth looks forward to the 2025 season.
“Heartbreak for sure after the up and down season we’ve had but I am excited to kind of use that to fuel me this winter.”
Next up for Rajah Caruth will be the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway on November 8, 2025, at 8:00 p.m. E.T.
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