Professional race car driver and Winston-Salem State student Rajah Caruth has found a new home to bring back a WSSU paint scheme. Caruth will drive a throwback Dale Earnhardt Jr. paint scheme with WSSU mixed in.
Caruth will race the car at Hickory Motor Speedway on Saturday July 30 on the CARS Tour, which features Late Model stock cars. The black No. 8 is a nod to the car that Earnhardt Jr. drove at Talladega in the spring of 2006. Unlike that car, this one will sport a WSSU logo on the rear quarter panel. The entire field in the Throwback 276 race will consist of cars with legacy paint schemes.
“SURPISE!!!!!! Thank you for the permission @DaleJr. Can’t wait to rep @WSSU_MSM,” Caruth wrote on social media when announcing the new car.
This will be Caruth’s debut on the CARS Tour. The green flag is set to waive at 8pm on Saturday night.
Double Duty Weekend
Prior to that Caruth will be driving his full time ride on Friday night in the ARCA National Series. He’ll be behind the wheel of his No. 6 as the ARCA points leader for the Reese’s 200. The road race from Indianapolis Raceway Park will air live on FS1 at 6pm.
Caruth qualified his car in the seventh position for Friday’s race, just behind Nick Sanchez and Daniel Dye. Those are the two contenders who are closely chasing him for the ARCA points lead. The race in Indianapolis kicks off the second half of the ARCA series. Caruth currently has a three point series lead over Sanchez and leads Dye by nine.
Rajah Caruth will hope to have better luck in his throwback car on Saturday than Dale Earnhardt Jr. did in 2006. Dale Jr. finished 37 laps off the lead after a spin into the wall during the Aaron’s 499. The race was pushed from a Sunday to a Monday because of rain and ended in disappointment for that era’s most dominant restrictor plate racer.