With his recent win, Rajah Caruth cemented his name in the history books as the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race, alongside Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.
The 21-year-old driver for Spire Motorsports secured his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Just three races into the season, Caruth has already clinched a spot in the Truck Series playoffs.
In the days after his win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Caruth reflected on the race and praised the program that helped him become a driver for one of the most notable motorsports organizations in the world.
“It’s been pretty surreal, to be honest,” said Caruth to reporters on Monday, noting the hundreds of text messages and congratulations he’s received from fellow drivers, family, and friends from his Washington, D.C. hometown. “I’m just honestly more relieved than anything to be in the playoffs, but it hasn’t really sunk in.”
Wallace, a dear friend and mentor to Caruth, also gave him his flowers.
Caruth’s victory is also a feather in the cap for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, which was started in 2004 to identify and train young, diverse talent to race at NASCAR’s highest levels, hopefully — the Craftsman Truck Series, Xfinity Series and the top tier Cup Series. Another adjacent goal is to globalize America’s premier stock car racing league, which is already one of the biggest spectator sports in the country.
Wallace is considered a Drive for Diversity success, as is Caruth, a full-time student at the history black Winston-Salem State University.
Caruth is the fourth Drive for Diversity alum to snag a NASCAR national series win this year. Earlier this month, Japanese-American driver Kyle Larsen won the Pennzoil 400 at the Las Vegas Speedway. In late February, Daniel Suárez, who is Mexican, took the checkered flag at the Ambetter Health 400 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. In mid-February, Cuban-American driver Nick Sanchez won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at the Daytona International Speedway.
With the string of successes that Drive for Diversity alums have had, Caruth added, “I think it’s special because it gives the program more eyes and shows its legitimacy. I feel pretty proud to have played a small role.”
Caruth’s story is well known. He learned how to race on a computer and didn’t start competing in an actual car until he was 17, an atypical path in a sport where it is not unusual for kids to start driving at six years old.
The Drive for Diversity program allowed him to realize his long-held dream of racing cars. He told The Chicago Defender that he hopes the program will continue to provide a pathway into racing for others who also had no tangible means of getting into it.
“I hope it continues to live right and give kids like myself,” said Caruth, “inner city kids in particular, but also people in general, that otherwise would not have a ride, a chance to even try to learn how to race.”
“But for me, personally, it’s helped elevate me to where I’m at now.”
