The streak of finishing outside the top ten is now over for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Rajah Caruth. On Friday night in Nashville he piloted his No. 71 Chevy Silverado to a fourth place finish just laps after challenging for second place.
The 22-year-old Winston-Salem State senior had gone six races without a top-10 finish. His fourth place finish was his best since earning his first career win back in March at Las Vegas.
“Glad to just kind of have something go our way there,” Caruth said after the race. “Not the best restarts all night. I’d be really loose on stickers and then after a heat cycle, I was just tight, especially in Turn 1. Everywhere else, I’ll be alright, so I just gave up a lot on restarts. My pit crew did amazing tonight, and I’m so proud of those guys. They’ve put in good work at practice the last month or so, and it really showed tonight. So we just got to keep improving and and put on for HendrickCars.com and Spire and everybody at Team Chevy,” Caruth said after the race.
No one, Caruth included, had anything for Christian Eckes who dominated Friday’s race, leading all 150 laps. That was the first time a driver led every race lap in 12 years. In the closing laps Caruth was pulling up to the bumper of Daniel Dye for second place but also had a rearview mirror full of Corey Heim to contend with. Heim eventually passed Caruth on the final lap for third place, leaving Caruth in the No. 4 spot.
The Truck Series playoffs are just three races away now. Caruth is already locked in thanks to the Vegas win, but he’ll need more efforts like this weekend to make noise in the postseason.
“We’re not back. We’re better,” Caruth said. “So hopefully, we can take that into the playoffs.”
Rajah Caruth is back on the track for the NASCAR truck series on July 12 in Pocono,