In his second full-time season as a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver, Rajah Caruth has shown signs of growth within Spire Motorsports’ young truck program.
The deal with Spire was only announced just over a week before the season started at Daytona International Speedway, and Caruth found backing from Rick Hendrick and HendrickCars.com. After finishing third and eighth at Daytona and Atlanta Motor Speedway, Caruth picked up his first career victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.
Despite the strong start, however, Caruth recorded only four more top-10 finishes in the next 13 races leading up to the playoffs. Caruth opened up the playoffs at the Milwaukee Mile in 18th, but his worst finish since is seventh at Kansas Speedway. That includes a third-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway and fourth at Talladega Superspeedway.
Overall, Caruth accomplished two of his goals entering the season: win a race, and make the playoffs. However, he hopes to find some consistency and contend to make the Championship 4.
Frontstretch spoke with Caruth ahead of the Friday (Oct. 4) Truck race at Talladega, where he shared his outlook for the remaining races as well as the work he puts in to get ready for a superspeedway versus other tracks. Caruth also feels a championship appearance is well within reach given his skill sets at the next two races.
Read or watch the whole interview below.
Barnes: Looking at the next round, you’ve got Talladega, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway. How are you feeling about this round?
Caruth: I feel like we’ve got a really good chance to be one of the four in Phoenix. I think personally, this race here, Talladega, there’s only so much in your control. So I just have to execute my part as a driver, and I know my guys over the wall and up on top of the pit box and spotter stand will do their job to.
Hopefully it’s a good day for us. It doesn’t have to be spectacular, but it definitely has to be a good day for sure.
Barnes: How do you prepare for a weekend like this? Obviously, you’re big into iRacing, but do you use a lot of sim going into Talladega, or do you play DRAFTYCAR to get ready?
Caruth: I’ve never played DRAFTYCAR, but I don’t play that many games on my phone to be honest with you. I’ve never really gotten into that.
I’ve done a little bit of iRacing. They’ve got the Next Gen car on there, and that’s the only thing that has actually realistic aero, in terms of side drafting and all that stuff.
That’s a little bit of what I do. Outside of that, it’s really business as usual. I think for this weekend in particular, compared to a traditional racetrack, whether it’s Bristol or Kansas or Homestead or Martinsville, since those are the tracks we’ve been to or are going to, you’ll have driving techniques and stuff that you work on.
Besides that, you don’t have that here because it’s not as technical of a racetrack from a driving perspective. I think for me, it’s just business as usual in the sense of film-watching and pre-race prep and everything.
Barnes: You were fast at Bristol a few weeks ago, and then looking ahead, where do you think Homestead and Martinsville might fit your driving style or your strengths?
Caruth: I think Homestead, running right up against the wall. I say this humbly, but I feel like I’m one of the most proficient guys in the Truck Series in doing that and hitting it right. And so that’s something you do at Homestead, and I’m really excited to go there.
Martinsville, my short tracks have not been my strong suit, and I’ve really worked on it this year to get better. And getting my first top 10 at Martinsville back in the spring and, like you said, running well at Bristol. I think overall, you know, we’ll see.
I know that I’m going to do my prep. I know my team is gonna have our Spire Motorsports Silverados fast, and hopefully, it works out. At the end of the day, it’s kind of business as usual, and I’m going to just do my part.
Barnes: Overall, how would you rate your season so far? Getting that first win, you’re in the Round of 8, looking at hopefully making it to the Championship 4.
Caruth: I think at times you’re looking at a B season. I’d give it a B, sometimes a C or a C+, sometimes an A-, so it’s been fluctuating. I think to make it in the playoffs, right, that was my goal this year in terms of also getting a win, and we’ve achieved that so far.
I think for me personally, I wanted to go all the way to Phoenix, and so I think we have a good chance at that for everybody at HendrickCars.com and the automotive group, especially Mr. H and Mrs. Linda [Rick and Linda Hendrick] and everybody at Ally and Team Chevy and Spire.
For me, I would say a B or something. For me, I just wanna get to Phoenix, and whatever happens there is gravy.
Barnes: You’re such a student of the sport. What’s maybe one of the biggest things that you’ve learned this year, getting to race with guys like Kyle Busch here in the Truck Series?
Caruth: I think a lot of the things I’ve learned this year is hard to verbally say. I think a lot of it is just experience that I’ve gained in racing against KB [Busch], and [Christopher] Bell, Zane [Smith]. Being around those guys, whether it’s on the racetrack, in the gym or away from the track.
It’s hard to describe, I think in words, the things I’ve learned this year. A lot of it comes down to experience that I’ve gained and stuff that I’ve learned through example from all the guys that we watch on Sundays.
At the end of the day, that’s where I wanna be in. It’s nice to get a chance to learn off those guys, and I can’t wait to be there one day, hopefully.
Barnes: Last week, you got to host some of the guys from the Washington Commanders. They’re looking good this year. Are you going to set a prediction on how far they’re going to go?
(Sorry, Caleb does not know his NFL very well. Caruth actually hosted players from the Kansas City Chiefs.)
Caruth: I’m really excited about the Commanders year this year, starting off 3-1, managing expectations.
Last week at Kansas Speedway, having Justin Reed and Xavier Worthy from the Kansas City Chiefs there, it was great. Because anytime you can bring people from other sports to the racetrack is great, because I think there’s a lot of similarities.
It’s great to bring those guys out to the track, and so hopefully it won’t be their last time and great relationship to build. But I’m always rooting for my Commanders and excited to see how they do this year.
Barnes: What’s the rest of this offseason looking like and then your preparations as you get ready for 2025, do you have anything set in stone for that yet?
Caruth: Really nothing to announce for next year. Hoping to be back for sure. I think for me, my focus is trying to make it for Phoenix and hoping we’re one of the four, and we’ll deal with everything else after that.
Caleb began sports writing in 2023 with The Liberty Champion, where he officially covered his first NASCAR race at Richmond in the spring. While there, Caleb met some of the guys from Frontstretch, and he joined the video editing team after graduating from Liberty University with degrees in Strategic Communications and Sports Journalism. Caleb currently work full-time as a Multi-Media Journalist with LEX 18 News in Lexington, Kentucky and contributes to Frontstretch with writing and video editing. He's also behind-the-scenes or on camera for the Happy Hour Podcast, live every Tuesday night at 7:30!