Rajah Caruth returning to Spire Motorsports for full 2025 truck schedule
12/13/2024 10:34 AM
— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Most Popular Driver Rajah Caruth will return to Spire Motorsports in 2025 to pilot the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado in pursuit of the division‘s championship honors.
In addition to announcing his plans for the 2025 season, Caruth walked the commencement stage Friday morning to accept his college diploma. The newly crowned graduate collected a Bachelor of Science in Motorsports Management from Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University.
HendrickCars.com, the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group, will return to the team and serve as Caruth‘s primary sponsor.
"I‘m thrilled to confirm that Rajah Caruth will be back with us in 2025 driving the No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado," said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. "He took the incredibly high expectations we placed on him to start the year and exceeded them in every way. I‘m impressed with how he‘s balanced his commitments to his race team, his craft, the media and his growing fanbase while managing a full workload at Winston-Salem State University. Our organization believes in Raj and he has consistently shown the leadership, form and work ethic that every team looks for in a driver. Everyone at Spire Motorsports is really happy to run it back with him next season."
Caruth, a native of Washington D.C., earned his first career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series pole position and victory in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, becoming just the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race.
"It is great to have a home and stability heading into next year," said Caruth. "I believe this is the first time in my career I won‘t be with a new team or competing in a different series at the start of the season. I really appreciate the opportunity Jeff (Dickerson) and T.J. (Puchyr) have given me, and I‘m excited to continue preparations for 2025. Our organization has really grown over the past year, and we have shown what we are capable of. We have set the bar high for the season and the expectation is to win more races and compete for a championship."
The 2024 season marked a career year for the 22-year-old, collecting two Cometic Gasket Pole Awards, one win, five top-five and 12 top-10 finishes across 23 races. Caruth compiled a 10.7 average starting position in 2024, nearly five positions better than his 2023 efforts, while his 11.6 average finish calculates to an impressive 6.6 positions better than the year prior.
Caruth raced part time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series during the 2022-2023 seasons and matched his career/series best 12th-place finish in October 2023 at Martinsville Speedway. He was named the 2021 Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award recipient in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, an award based on a driver‘s final Weekly Series national standing and on-track performance, sportsmanship and community service.
"Rajah is a young man of tremendous character and has proven to be a great representative of HendrickCars.com and our nearly 11,000 teammates across the country," said Rick Hendrick, the chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group. "In addition to being extremely talented, he has an incredible work ethic. We couldn‘t be prouder to make this announcement on the same day Rajah and his family celebrate his college graduation. He has a very bright future in the sport, and we are thrilled to continue supporting his journey in 2025."
"It is very special to have Hendrick Automotive Group and HendrickCars.com support me and my racing career," added Caruth. "When I got the opportunity to drive their Xfinity car at Phoenix in 2023, it felt like an audition for 2024. I didn‘t have any plans at that point. I‘m thankful for everything Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick and all the great people at HendrickCars.com and Hendrick Automotive Group have done for me. I‘m super thankful for their support and I‘m ready to put on a show for them next year."
The organization‘s team and crew chief lineup is still being finalized and will be announced at a later date.
Over the past four years, Caruth has juggled a full academic course load while competing full-time in a touring division. In total, he completed 120 course credit hours while making a combined 108 starts between the NASCAR Xfinity Series, CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series, in addition to various short track and road course events.
"I‘m glad to be done with school," added the second-generation college graduate. "It required a lot of hard work and sacrifice, along with diligent time management between coursework and everything associated with racing including team meetings, simulator time and travel. I appreciate everything Dr. (Clay) Harshaw, Dr. (Dennis) Felder and all my professors at Winston-Salem State have done to help me finish school while chasing my dream. It is super cool to have the faculty, student body and WSSU National Alumni Association following me in my journey and cheering me on. The crew chiefs I‘ve had through the years have been flexible with my schedule so I could finish this chapter, and I‘m ready for racing become my lone focus.”
The 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season kicks off with the Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway. The season-opener will be televised live on FS1, Friday, Feb. 14 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The first of the series‘ 25 races will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
— Spire Motorsports —
