– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
LAS VEGAS — Instead of breaking down the latest barrier for Black athletes in sports, Rajah Carruth raced well over 100 miles per hour through it!
21-year-old Rajah Caruth made history when his Spire Motorsports “71” truck crossed the finish line first at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday night, becoming the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national touring series event, joining Hall-of-Famer Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace. Caruth, who also won the pole position in the lead-up to the event, won his first-ever Truck Series race in his 30th start in the discipline.
The native of Washington, D.C. did not start racing an actual car until the summer of 2019, but the alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program is clearly a quick study. He edged the pole by 0.001 seconds over Christian Eckles, and during the latter stages of the race, Caruth’s crew chief, Chad Walter, brought in Caruth’s Chevrolet in for a pit stop during a long green-flag run toward the end of the race that paid dividends.
After the other contenders completed their pit stops, it was Caruth who inherited the lead once again on Lap 114, a near-two second lead over his closest chaser. At the end, that margin was just enough to hold off the hard-charging Tyler Ankrum, the Craftsman Truck Series leader in the overall standings, with Caruth earning the checkered flag 0.851 seconds ahead of Ankrum.
“So many people have helped me get to this point, and I can’t believe it,” Caruth said. “I just stayed cool. We lost track position in little portions of the race, and we stayed in the game… My guys got me a great stop, and we just executed.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday night’s event, with all photos taken by Las Vegas-area photographer Arnie Bazemore. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are three pictures in total.
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official.
