Rajah Caruth, the youngest Black NASCAR driver, has become the third to win a NASCAR national series race. While still taking everything in, the 21-year-old wasted no time and is already back to work, gearing up for his next career move.
Caruth won his first NASCAR truck series race, the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200, on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Following the victory, Caruth shared how he felt after crossing the finish line with his family watching from the stands.
“This is monumental,” Caruth said in an interview with Blavity after his win. “I mean, this weekend, luckily for me, I just got home and spent it with, you know, my people, [the] people I love the most, and it was great.”
Caruth previously spoke to us about his interest in cars at a young age and how went to his first race in 2014. He had aspirations of one day becoming a professional driver and found a way to break into the industry.
He began racing simulators and used eNASCAR as a catalyst to become part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Development program. Since then, he has participated in several races, steadily making a name for himself with each impressive performance.
When asked about the challenges he faced in the early stages of his career, Caruth reflected on his journey, acknowledging that it was no easy task.
“It took a minute for success to come even before we got to this point,” Caruth said.
He continued, “I really just try to work on being as cool as possible, no matter how good things go, how bad things go, just being as plugged in and being as cool, calm and collected I can be.”
Caruth is one of several NASCAR drivers who have had to balance their professional driving careers while still attending school. He is a senior at Winston-Salem State University, an HBCU in North Carolina. Despite his busy schedule, Caruth still prioritizes his studies while dedicating himself to honing his driving skills.
He is the third Black driver behind Wendell Scott and his mentor, Bubba Wallace, to win a NASCAR national series race. The Washington, D.C. native hopes this will create more diversity and inclusion in motorsports.
“Well, hopefully [this] gets more of us to the racetrack,” Caruth said.
“I grew up not going to the race track, not in this culture, in this world, but you know, growing up in DC, growing up in a Caribbean household and being a city kid, like it’s a completely different world. So if I can marry the two, I know it helps NASCAR,” he added.
