Winston-Salem State’s Rajah Caruth had a car fast enough to win on Friday night in the ARCA Series at Pocono Raceway but he didn’t have enough daylight. Caruth finished fourth at the General Tire 200 after the race was called official at lap 64 before the completion of its scheduled 80 laps. With rain pushing the day’s schedule back along with several accidents, including red flag stoppages, it was an ad hoc finish. The sun set on its normal schedule and the final caution of the day forced officials to wave the checkered flag. Taylor Gray took the win.
Caruth maintains the points lead in the ARCA series after ten races, which is the halfway point of the season. He holds a two point edge over teammate Nick Sanchez and a nine point lead over Daniel Dye.
It was an up and down day for Caruth who was running up front before finding himself at the tail of the field. He raced his way back up front and was out of sequence with the leaders on pit stops and fuel. Caruth had topped off with fuel on a lap 46 caution when the leaders stayed out. On the television broadcast the announcers speculated that Caruth might have enough fuel to stay out after a red flag caution with 31 laps remaining. Instead the No. 6 team called for Caruth to come down pit road for more fuel after the caution cleared which Caruth questioned after the race.
Not enough gas?
“Our Max Siegel Chevy was the fastest thing on the race track, we had to come down the second time to put fuel in it and I don’t understand how every other car can do it except for us, something every week but we’re on to IRP and we’re really good there,” said Caruth.
Taylor Gray stayed on the track when the leaders pitted and he pulled off the fuel strategy win. Gray had previously been a lap down and was on the same pit cycle with Caruth.
Double Duty Weekend at Pocono
But the weekend isn’t over for Rajah. After his ARCA run he is now set to run in the Xfinity Series Explore Pocono 225 race on Saturday at 5pm. Caruth will be driving the No. 44 car for Alpha Prime Racing. He is racing a part time schedule for that team this year in the Xfinity Series. The race can be seen on the USA Network.
Caruth was in the No. 30 spot for practice speed on Saturday morning, he qualified in the No. 32 spot. Virginia State University will maintain an HBCU presence in the race. VSU will appear on the Xfinity car once again with a highly visible logo on the rear quarter panel of the car.