NASCAR
Rajah Caruth Becomes NASCAR Craftsman Truck Winner at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The fan favorite iRacer, Washington, D.C. native, and college student gets to taste NASCAR victory lane. Rajah Caruth turned his first pole position into a maiden NASCAR National Series triumph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Start number 30 was the lucky one for the Spire Motorsports driver, with a very popular night unfolding in Sin City.
Both stages would go to Ty Majeski; the No. 98 flexed muscles early as seemingly the fastest truck in town. Majeski’s apparent march to victory would only be derailed on his final trip down pit road. A green flag pit stop saw the Thorsport No. 98 speeding. After leading 40 laps, Majeski was sent to a dismal 10th-place result.
Majeski’s misfortunes opened the door for Caruth, who closely followed him in both Stages. The Hendrickcars.com No. 71 Chevrolet took command with 21 laps left and never looked back. Caruth now joins Wendell Scott and his mentor Bubba Wallace as NASCAR’s only African American race winners. This victory also comes just days after Caruth learned that he has full season sponsorship from Hendrickcars.com.
“Just a surreal moment,” Caruth said after grabbing the checkers. “Thank you so much to Hendrickcars.com and Mr. H. for putting me in this thing all year, along with the men and women at Spire. They’ve had a lot of work this winter, the decal shop’s been working very hard too. Glad to get the win for Team Chevy. Can’t thank my family enough, so many people who have helped me get to this point. I can’t believe it.”
“I just stayed cool, we lost track position for a little portion of the race. We stayed in the game. It was just one step, one punch, one round at a time. My guys gave me a great pit stop, and we just executed. There’s more to come for sure.”
Chasing Caruth down in the closing laps but falling short would be Tyler Ankrum. TRICON Garage Toyotas Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, and Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five. The rest of the top-10 were: Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger, and Ty Majeski.
The Craftsman Truck Series will return to action in two weeks at Bristol. The Weather Guard Truck Race will go green Saturday, March 16 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Rajah Caruth and Spire Motorsports look to keep their winning ways alive rolling into Thunder Valley.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
