Las Vegas, NV – Who said black history was only in the month of February? With just one day removed from black history month, HBCU Senior Rajah Caruth makes history as the third African American driver to win a NASCAR National series race as he joins (1) the late Wendell Scott and (2) Bubba Wallace. He will also be in the history books forever within NASCAR.
This couldn’t have been a better moment of memories for Rajah Caruth during this 2024 season. It all started a few days ago with the announcement from HendrickCars.com going fom primary sponsor for 10 races this season to sponsoring him for the entire season. Being 21 years old, skies the limit for this Washington, DC native as he scored a spot as a top 10 finisher in the first three races thus far this season. Starting with Daytona, he finished in third place, then eighth place at Atlanta Motor Speedway all the way to first place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gary Davis, executive vice president of Hendrick Automotive Group stated “Rajah has had a tremendous start to 2024.
When you combine his on-track potential, how he represents himself and HendrickCars.com, his impressive social media presence, and the support of the fans that he received, we couldn’t pass on supporting him for the entire season.
Time lap of 30.501 seconds with speed of 177.043 miles per hour. Merely just .001 seconds faster than Christian Eckes, car 19 with NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet. During his pre race interview, Caruth was asked if he will drive in any Xfinity races this year and he said he is going to focus solely on the track races. He also thanked Mr. Hendrick, Mrs Linda, Spire Motorsports, and his crew for an amazing opportunity and journey this year. He feels really good about his truck today. He apologized again for his mistake from last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and said that he will continue to learn and grow and he will keep his blinders on. Who would have known that his blinders, his focus, his determination, and great pit crew would afford him his first career win the same day he spoke it.
Rajah will always go on the books as a history maker!! He has great mentors in Cup Series with drivers Bubba Wallace, car 23, with 23XI Racing and teammate Kyle Busch, car 7, with Spire Motorsports for the Truck Series. Busch won last week in Atlanta Motor Speedway and was looking to take back to back wins. Rajah led 38 of 134 laps of the race as he zoomed past Zane Smith, 2-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell. Tyler Ankrum crossed the line second. Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, Bell, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski rounded out the top 10.
Rajah graduated from NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity program along with others who are history makers such as Brehanna Daniels, first African American Female tire changer. This year the program has celebrated 20 successful years. In 2023, Rajah was supported by Petty GMS and the Wendell Scott Foundation. This is the anniversary week for celebrating Wendell Scott’s start at NASCAR’s highest level on March 4, 1961 in Spartanburg, S. Carolina.
His final words during the post race interview that there will be more [wins] to come. He thanked his mom, sister, and especially his dad who was the very person that took him to a race and it piqued his interest ever since. “Really both of my parents along with my granddad taught me that first experience and take enabled me to put in the work and chase the dream” Caruth stated. He is just going to go home and get some rest. He is thankful that he doesn’t have a race in Phoenix next week but will be ready to race in Bristol.
