Rajah Caruth Gets First NASCAR Win at Las Vegas

Rajah Caruth has been an exciting story in the making in the past few years, as he began running on iRacing as a kid, and then hopped into a race car for the first time just five years ago. Now here we are five years later, and Rajah Caruth is a winner in a NASCAR National Series. Caruth earned his first career win on Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, driving the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports. This also comes after Hendrick Cars announced they would be sponsoring him for the entire season.

“There’s more to come, for sure,” said Caruth after winning the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200.

Caruth, an alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program, also becomes the third African-American Driver to win a NASCAR National Series race, joining Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace. Caruth would win the race from the pole, which was also his first career pole, and lead for 38 laps in the 134-lap race. Caruth took the lead from Taylor Gray on lap 114 and wouldn’t look back after that.

“It’s surreal,” said Caruth after celebrating with his father. “Thanks so much to HendrickCars.com and Mr. H (Hendrick) for putting me in this thing all year, and with the men and women at Spire.”

“So many people have helped me get to this point, and I can’t believe it. I just stayed cool. We lost track position in little portions of the race, and we stayed in the game. My guys got me a great stop, and we just executed.”

Caruth’s pit crew was flawless throughout the night, while other drivers did not execute when they had to come in clutch. One example is Ty Majeski, who led a race-high 40 laps and swept both stages. Despite the dominating performance, Majeski was hit with a speeding penalty on pit road, as well as Nick Sanchez, who won at Daytona. Kyle Busch was also hit with a tire violation penalty, who won last week at Atlanta. The season opens up with Spire winning the first three races with Nick Sanchez (REV Racing being an affiliate), Kyle Busch, and now Rajah Caruth.

Tyler Ankrum finished second, Corey Heim was third, Taylor Gray and Christopher Bell rounded out the top five, while Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, and Ty Majeski rounded out the top 10.

“I wish we would have had 10 more laps, and I think we could have gotten it,” said Ankrum after the race. “But we tend to say that a lot in racing. I wish we would have been able to do it, but I think our time is coming.”

The Craftsman Truck Series will head next to Bristol Motor Speedway on March 16th at 8 pm EST.