RICHMOND, Va.: In 2014, Rajah Caruth attended Richmond (Va.) Raceway as a spectator with the dream of competing at the top levels of NASCAR.
On Saturday afternoon, Caruth continued his journey with his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut with Alpha Prime Racing.
“I was a diehard (NASCAR fan) before then, but I think that race seeing everything,” recalled Caruth. “It emphasized it. As a kid, you don’t think about having to have a job.
“Sometimes you know what you want to do, but you don’t understand you’ve got to work. I still obviously wanted to be a race car driver. But that day, it was like, ‘OK, this is my purpose.’”
A member of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity class, Caruth has pedaled hard for the moment to race against the Xfinity Series best.
Most of his racing skills have come on iRacing, but through hard work and a never-give-up attitude, Caruth continued to make paths that would open doors – including Late Models and eventually the NASCAR-owned ARCA Menards Series.
Back for a full-schedule in ARCA competition this season with Rev Racing, Caruth holds second in the championship standings after finishing 11th and fourth respectively in the two opening races at Daytona and Phoenix Raceway, but Richmond was also the start of six Xfinity Series with Alpha Prime.
With the pressure to perform, Caruth seemed more like a seasoned veteran on Saturday morning by dialing in a solid 17th place in practice and backed the practice speed by qualifying for his Xfinity Series debut in 22nd on his qualifying speed.
Prior to the race, Caruth told his team, I will do my best today” and he stood true to his word.
The ToyotaCare 250 proved to be an ultimately tamed race with low attrition which played into the hands of the rookie driver where he was able to soak up the 250-lap race with a relatively clean No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro.
Caruth finished the race 24th, two laps behind winner Ty Gibbs – but the finish wasn’t a disappointment.
“The middle section was really good but we fired off loose to help with the tightness and I wasn’t prepared for it to be that free firing off,” explained Caruth. “I didn’t take care of it (tires) that well and I was only good for a middle portion of that last stint and at the end I didn’t have anything left.”
Caruth explained that even though he and the field would have welcomed a late race caution for new tires and an adjustment for the end of the race, his car wasn’t that bad – but he probably would have been better if not for the handling woes at the beginning of Stage 3.
“I wasn’t that bad,” he explained. “I felt prepared for it (long green flag run), I just didn’t take care of them good enough early on because I was so loose firing off. I felt great physically. Helps when it’s only 60 degrees out but learned a lot today. Thankful for the opportunity and ready for the next one.”
It was a learning experience with the devotion to make improvements for his next Xfinity Series race at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway later this month.
In addition to Dover, Carruth will move on to more technical race tracks later this season at Pocono Raceway, Kansas Speedway, Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and the season-finale at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway in November.
