Rajah Caruth – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado
Rajah Caruth will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado in Saturday night’s Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway.
Caruth started 10th and finished 12th in the division’s most recent stop at Texas Motor Speedway in the SpeedyCash.com 250.
HendrickCars.com is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop thousands of new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protections programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
Caruth has two prior NCTS starts and two additional NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the 1.5-mile tri-oval and looks to better his venue-best 12th-place finish in Saturday night’s 200-miler.
The Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University senior is currently seventh in the NCTS championship point standings after seven races. He has logged one pole, one win, five top-10 and seven top-15 finishes. He’s recorded a 10.9 average start, a 7.7 average finish and completed 100 percent of the laps contested this season.
With his first career NCTS win and pole position earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Caruth became just the third African American driver, alongside NASCAR Hall of Famer, Wendell Scott and current NASCAR Cup Series regular Bubba Wallace, to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race.
The 21-year-old started racing professionally online for the first time in the eNASCAR IgniteSeries. He finished 20th in points. Caruth still iRaces for recreation.
This weekend, Spire Motorsports and the Kansas City Pioneers (KCP), a local esports organization, will collaborate to advance the relationship between real racing and iRacing through professionally created content and activations at Kansas Speedway throughout the weekend. Spire Motorsports’ drivers from the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, Casey Kirwan and Malik Ray, will join KCP’s drivers, Graham Bowlin and Wyatt Tinsley, for three days of filming at the track along with behind-the-scenes segments featuring Caruth and teammate Carson Hocevar. The sim racing drivers will also participate in activations at the NASCAR Experience in the midway of Kansas Speedway on Saturday and Sunday. These activations include coaching sessions at the iRacing sim rigs, participating in live interviews with fans and media, as well as an autograph session before the Heart of America 200.
Caruth will participate in a question-and-answer session Friday at 6:15 p.m. at the Hollywood Casino Turn 2 sports bar.
Race fans can meet Caruth on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. while he signs autographs at the Cabo Wabo FanWalk in the Infield.
Rajah Caruth Quotes
You’re headed to Kansas after two weeks off. How’s your mindset getting ready for this weekend to get back to racing?
“ A lot of excitement. Kansas is a racetrack that I tend to have good pace at. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun to race at Kansas and going to a racetrack with multiple lanes and a surface that’s worn out a little bit where you have a lot of options to race with. During these two off weeks I haven’t had jitters, but I have felt the itching need to get back on the track.
What are your goals for the weekend to build on your stellar 2024 so far and have a better finish than the past?
“Kansas is the mile-and-a-half track that I have ran at the most, but at the same time I haven’t had the best of results there. Hopefully we can turn that around this time. My goals for this weekend kind of lead to what they’ve been the whole year. I’m just trying to finish in the top-10 every race and earn stage points by qualifying well and being there at the end of the race and get the finishes we deserve for Spire Motorsports, HendrickCars.com, Mr. Hendrick and Chevrolet.”
The Heart of America 200 will mark the first time Spire Motorsports will field a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) entry at Kansas Speedway. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados full time in the NCTS. An all-star driver lineup will rotate throughout the 2024 season in the No. 7 Chevy. Rajah Caruth will drive the No. 71 entry and Chase Purdy rounds out the team’s fleet of Chevrolets in the No. 77.
The Heart of America 200 will be televised live on FS1 Saturday May 4, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The eighth of 23 NCTS races on the 2024 schedule will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. NASCAR RaceDay’s pre-race coverage on FS1 will take the green flag at 7 p.m. EDT.
Chad Walter – Crew Chief, No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado
Chad Walter has over two decades of experience and began his career with Hendrick Motorsports in 1996.
Walter guided Caruth to his first NCTS win March 1, 2024 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Some of his most notable accomplishments include a pair of Daytona 500 victories (2001 & 2003) with Michael Waltrip, along with Cup Series wins with Steve Park and Terry Labonte.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
