Folks, if there is one driver who everyone in the NASCAR community wants to see succeed, it has to be Rajah Caruth. Caruth comes from a humble background, a Georgia native, and is a driver not born into the sport. So it was tough for him to crack his way in. But his desire to race in the stock car series earned him a spot in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program. Like William Byron, Caruth too learned to race on simulators (on iRacing) before hitting the tracks. Slowly climbing the ranks, he’s part of the Turck Series now, and a sweet story of his iRacing days has come to light.

Caruth, growing up, was a massive fan of the animated movie CARS. At age 14, a visit to Richmond Raceway fueled his passion for becoming a race car driver. Fast forward to 2019, he made his Legends car debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And after three seasons there, he made his ARCA debut in 2022. Followed by his first full truck season in 2023, and now he is emerging as a star in the series, winning the Most Popular Driver award in 2024.

But through all this, one thing has remained common: Caruth’s humble and down-to-earth nature. That’s probably why Bubba Wallace chose him as a mentee, and that is what makes Caruth a fan favorite. Recently, one fan shared a story about Caruth’s always helpful nature.

Rajah Caruth: The iRacing coach

A fan shared an incident from 2020 on Reddit. This was the time Caruth was running Late Models, and he was already showing early signs of his racing talent with three top 5s and nine top 10s in the 19 starts that he made that season. And even during that time, Caruth was always active and training on iRacing. This one time a fan on the platform wanted some tips to virtually run the Kansas race, and posted this query in the chat.

Rajah Caruth picked it up and, according to the fan, gave him an in-depth analysis of how to go about it. The fan on Reddit wrote, “I asked in the chat if anyone had any tips tor cornering, and he (Caruth) immediately started going in depth helping me, watching my laps, and coaching me live as I practiced. I had no idea who he was at the time but he spent a good 15 minutes making sure I felt comfortable on this track.”

Fast forward to today, seeing him running his third full season in the Truck Series has made this fan feel honored to have been coached by him. And Caruth is on an upward journey. His 2023 season in the Truck Series was with GMS Racing, and he could only get 4 top 10s. But Spire Motorsports saw his talent and showed trust in him. With the backing of a good team and a sponsor like Rick Hendrick’s Hendrickcars.com, Caruth proved his worth. The 22-year-old won his first NASCAR race at Las Vegas in 2024. Becoming only the third black driver to win a National Series race. After Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace. 

And Caruth showed incredible consistency in 2024 with 5 top 5s, 12 top 10s, and a P7 season finish. This has kept him firm in that #71 Silverado. And on some days, even Caruth can’t believe he accomplished his dream to become a race car driver. “Man, there was a lot of days, especially in high school, that I did not think I could get here. I can’t tell you how many times I was at internship … working like at the basketball court, whatever, in the box office, just working on my website when I was just iRacing. A lot of those days, I didn’t think this would be at all possible.”

Well, so far, two races into the 2025 season, we haven’t seen the Caruth we were hoping for. He’s gotten a DNF in both races (Daytona and Atlanta). But next up is Las Vegas, the track where he got his first win. Let’s hope we get to see another one from him there this season. Meanwhile, the youngster is already motivating and working with possibly the next generation of NASCAR drivers.

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Caruth inspires the youth to make a racing career

Recently, Rajah Caruth has been part of a program called ‘Racing with Rajah,’ an initiative that gives kids in DC an experience of what it feels like to be a race car driver. Or just be part of the racing world. Speaking on this, Caruth said, “I think for me having a background in racing and starting in it through racing online, I have a passion about kind of just giving kids here and in general just exposure to different things… What I hope they take from it is really just to become a little bit more well-rounded and just learn something new. Ideally, this program would help get more people into racing, but you know that’s not really the ultimate goal of it for me. I think it’s just to help a young adult learn something new and just be exposed to a new experience and new knowledge and have their minds open as to what is possible.”

And for some time now, Caruth has kind of been on this mission to motivate kids to take a career in racing. To help them explore that there is more to racing than just being a driver. Be it from an engineering standpoint or maybe as a marketing individual. The point is, a lot of people work behind the scenes to form a NASCAR team, and Caruth believes that it’s important to make kids aware of these different opportunities to be part of NASCAR. And Caruth, since he became part of NASCAR, has always tried to inspire kids with his journey.

“There’s still a lot of work to do for just creating opportunities for people that have an interest or a passion or desire to be a part of the sport in any capacity… Because you know we’ve got 40 drivers in each division, give or take, and then there for each driver, there is three to nine different individuals that work on that vehicle. Hundreds upon hundreds of individuals that work just on race teams. Let alone you know parts, vendors, officials, the legal aspect of it and so just there’s a lot of work to do,” Caruth said in a separate interview.

What do you think about Rajah Caruth and his journey in NASCAR? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.