Is Rajah Caruth NASCAR’s Next Big Thing?

21-year-old Rajah Caruth found what would seem like overnight stardom after his Truck Series win at Las Vegas last weekend. But the youngster’s journey isn’t as simple as one could be led to believe. Following the path of William Byron, Caruth sped his way from computer to race track and stands tall today as one of NASCAR’s most promising talents.

Unlike the generic top-tier stock car driver who begins racing from ages less than 10, he made it into his first race days shy of being a 17-year-old. He was the first driver to make it into the Drive for Diversity program without any racing experience, however, that did not mean that he lacked skill.

The many hours that he spent on his computer helped him satisfy his needs and gave him entry to racing Legend cars in the 2019 Bojangles Southern Shootout. 2020 and 2021 saw him progress from late models to ARCA, turning eyes all along the way. In 2022, he finally broke into Xfinity and Trucks, making his debut start in both tiers.

2023 saw him turn to be a full-time driver for Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series. With four top-10 finishes last year, he came into the ongoing season poised for success and has found just that. Caruth has a win and two top-10 finishes already in the three opening races. Crediting iRacing for all his success, the youngster expressed his desire to see SIM racers get more opportunities to showcase their skills.

He recently said on the ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’ podcast, “I feel like that’s one of the beautiful things about SIM Racing. It’s that I am a city kid, right? I didn’t go to the race track growing up. I didn’t have family or anything in racing. So, for sure, the top SIM racers should and will get more opportunities.”

Agreeing with him, veteran spotter Freddie Kraft noted that neither Caruth nor Byron got into the top tiers directly from iRacing. They proved their skills plenty in Legend cars and the like before getting a shot at the big game.

The key aspects of Rajah Caruth’s journey to success in NASCAR

In the two years that Rajah Caruth ran in the ARCA Menards, he garnered nine top-5s and eighteen top-10s. Getting full-time into Trucks in 2023, he did enough (four top-1os) to catch the eye of the suits in the compounds of Hendrick Motorsports. The legendary team signed him to run the #17 Xfinity Series car in last year’s finale at Phoenix. Following the show of faith, they once again stepped up and decided to sponsor him for all 23 Truck Series races in the 2024 season.

Only the third Black driver in history to win a race in NASCAR’s national series, Caruth is in the process of writing a historic tale for himself.

When and if he follows through on the potential that he is displaying, his idols William Byron and Bubba Wallace will be waiting for him in the Cup Series.