It was a night of firsts for 21-year-old Rajah Caruth.
The Washington, D.C. native won both his first career pole and first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, locking himself into the playoffs in the process. Caruth took advantage of penalties incurred by Kyle Busch and Ty Majeski during the final sequence of green-flag pit stops to grab his first checkered flag in NASCAR’s top-three series.
Hometown driver and heavy favorite Kyle Busch finished 15th, while Majeski, who won both stage one and stage two, clawed his way back to 10th. Tyler Ankrum finished in the runner-up spot, shrinking Caruth’s lead to as little as eight tenths of a second on the final lap, but it wasn’t enough.
“It’s surreal,” Caruth said while standing on the front stretch after the climbing out of his truck. “Thank you so much to HendrickCars.com and Mr H for putting me in this thing. Can’t thank my family enough, so many people have helped me get here. More to come for sure.”
