Second Thoughts on NASCAR: Is the best yet to come for Rajah Caruth?
Rajah Caruth has tried to keep the excitement of his first NASCAR national series victory in perspective.
"It feels weird to say, but it doesn't feel like there was anything special," he said Monday, three days after winning the truck race at Las Vegas. "We just executed a weekend and it just worked out for us."
That is the way most young drivers will want to look at a victory, especially early in the season. They don't want to consider the first win as their career achievement. They want more to come.
Will more come for Caruth? He certainly is in position to win more races and has the potential to become a superstar in the sport. But it won't be easy for just the third Black driver in NASCAR history to win a national series race.
The 21-year-old Caruth still is young when it comes to experience, with his first race in an actual race car coming in summer of 2019. The Washington, D.C., native loved the movie "Cars" and spent hours and hours racing online before getting a chance through NASCAR's Drive For Diversity program to get in a race car.
He has shown promise — Caruth finished third in the ARCA standings in 2022 and then 16th last year as a truck rookie — but not the ability to lead laps consistently. He led only two laps in trucks (and only led 34 in ARCA) before leading 38 laps Friday night.
That is why he remained at 17th in my preseason prospect rankings. He had been as high as 12th in my midseason 2022 rankings (as he was strong in ARCA), down to 15th for the start of 2023 and then 17th in midseason 2023.
Like many young drivers, he has struggled to find funding, and Rick Hendrick's automotive online dealership division decided after the first two races (before his win) to increase its sponsorship from 10 races to the full 23 for the 2024 season.
Rajah Caruth on if he thought winning a NASCAR race was possible
Caruth has to take advantage of what he has at his fingers and in his brain for a second year: He has very solid equipment from Spire Motorsports (Spire trucks have won all three races this year) and he has the knowledge from his rookie year in the trucks. His crew chief, Chad Walter, remaining with him is also a big asset.
He has all the tools outside the car. He's a college student at Winston-Salem State University, likely being the first HBCU student to win a NASCAR national series race.
NASCAR has put the spotlight on him the last couple of years, asking Caruth to do several appearances to promote the sport and the diversity program. NASCAR, rightfully so, loves his story because it is an example that someone who doesn't have family funding can use what they learned racing online and transfer those skills to an actual race car.
So he has been subjected to criticism that he didn't deserve the attention. He hadn't won. He handled all of that in stride.
Now that he has won, he got more attention than most first-time winners with highlights on some of the biggest sports shows.
Caruth seems prepared for whatever comes at him. Now it's time to continue his development, knowing there will be plenty more ups and downs. And hopefully, more trophies.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
