For a young man who just entered the motorsports record books, Rajah Caruth is steadfastly chill. On March 1, he became the third Black driver to take victory lane in NASCAR, winning the Craftsman Truck Series race in Las Vegas. The win was a big point of pride for people around NASCAR, never mind his hometown of Washington.
As a 21-year-old who hasn’t even yet finished college, in many ways last weekend was just another at the track that happened to end with him joining fellow NASCAR winners Wendell Scott (1963) and Bubba Wallace (2013). He’s got plenty on his mind, such as the upcoming race at Bristol Motor Speedway, what his favorite sports teams are doing and making sure his hair is on point.
Full disclosure, the first time I met Caruth he was just finishing high school and was getting his footing in actual cars at that point after a well-documented iRacing career. He reminds me a lot of my younger brother and his “it is what it is” outlook on life — not to mention they both went to high schools that played each other in sports.
We caught him doing his media car wash interviews on Monday, where he took questions while one of his homies was over hanging with him. He knows his place in the game, and hopes this week’s headlines aren’t his last.
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You won the pole position, as well as winning the race. How much did you feel you actually ran the best race of your career versus just running a good race that you happened to win?
I definitely feel like I ran a good race just because I really didn’t make any mistakes. Thankfully, you know, [I] executed really well. [I] didn’t put myself in any bad positions, aerodynamically and positionally. I think, overall, I just ran a complete one. So, it was pretty good as a whole, and things worked out for us, so I felt pretty proud of myself for how it went.
We don’t do anything different, honestly. We adjust minor things for each racetrack with each truck. It’s honestly just business as usual. Luckily, things worked out for us this weekend, but it won’t happen every weekend. So, you just got to prepare for when they do and prepare for when they don’t.
D.C.’s got your back, my brother went to BASIS and GDS [Georgetown Day School], and knows a bunch of kids from [School Without Walls] from around your age. And he was like, ‘Yo, everybody I know is talking about this.’ What’s it like to have your generation talking about your accomplishments?
Georgetown Day is crazy. I remember playing against them in basketball games, soccer games track meets, so, man, it’s pretty special. You know, you always think about putting on there for your city. And as an athlete, you’re like, ‘Oh, well, if I can go somewhere, you know, I can go somewhere with this.’ I’ll never forget where you come from, where I come from. So, I definitely feel that and it’s pretty awesome.
I mean, I felt like I was the best at track [and field] compared to myself in other sports, but I probably loved basketball the most. I just wasn’t the best as a basketball player athletically. I could do well enough in terms of defensively and stuff just being kind of strong and short and having good cardio. But basketball is the first one I played. I played soccer until I was a sophomore in high school. Ran track till I was a senior, [played] basketball till I was a sophomore in high school. [I] definitely learned a lot through those team sports days.
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How are your parents these days? One of the things about your story is the commitment they had to your development. What has their faith, belief and sacrifice meant to you being able to fulfill at least this part of your dream?
Not only my parents or my little sister. My aunts, my uncles, my cousins, my grandma, my friends, extended friends and family. They’ve all really elevated me, so it’s been great to have the support of my village from jump. I feel very blessed.
My parents go to most races now, so it’s pretty nice. But everyone else they kind of go to whichever one’s near nearby. I genuinely don’t know if they even like it. I mean, obviously I’m driving, they’re like, ‘I see him after’ and stuff and get to visit after the fact, but otherwise I don’t honestly know.
Racing is obviously not a team sport, and the mental side is a completely different thing. What do you do to handle that load personally, as well as in competition?
I’ve got a therapist now. But also, our training in the Chevy program is amazing. For the mental training, the reaction time’s really everything, it gets us really pretty plugged in for what we experienced in the trucks.
It’s been interesting to really learn about — or not learn, but see kind of the similarities and differences as compared to other sports I did growing up. Sometimes it’s camaraderie, sometimes it’s like ‘we ain’t cool’-type stuff. It’s been interesting, but I felt a lot of love and respect from my competitors after this weekend. So, it felt pretty special.
If anything, it’s a little deeper, because it’s like, you could actually hurt somebody. I think about Daytona, right. And I caused that last crash, not on purpose. But one of the dudes I’m cool with, he goes flipping through the air. I look in the mirror, I’m like, ‘yo, I caused that.’ Honestly, it’s crazy.
Do you watch other sports? Or are you just locked-in?
I like to watch NBA basketball, probably the only other thing that [I watch] much. But I’m a Wizards fan, man. So, times are tough.
Man, I think [Oklahoma City Thunder guard] Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] should get the MVP. I could ramble for a while. For one, it seems so much easier to score nowadays than it was when I remember watching, like, the Heat or the Celtics in the Finals in the early 2010s, or the Celtics and the Lakers. Those are not very high-scoring games, right? And then now it’s like you have both teams over 110 every night. I don’t know what changed to … people are that much better, or I don’t know what has changed in terms of it’s easier to score. I honestly love basketball. It’s probably my second-favorite thing sports-related behind NASCAR.
Separately, the [Washington] Commanders: I wonder who we’re gonna pick [No. 2 overall in the NFL draft] but we’re gonna take over the league next year, maybe? I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve been saying that the last like five years and it hasn’t worked. Who do I want? Not Drake Maye. Not him. That’s for sure.
The hair is getting long and we love to see it. Is there any particular reason that you feel that there’s any sort of self-expression there? Or that’s just part of how you live it?
Well, I got a peanut head, honestly. But I like having my hair grown out. I did twist a little bit over the winter. But because I exercise almost every day, my hair gets itchy. I can’t stand not washing my hair, so I like just having a little ‘fro whether it’s picked out or curls, you know? My girlfriend likes my long hair, so I’m going to keep it that way as well. So, you know where my priorities lie right there.
