Truck Series: Rajah Caruth and crew rock Nashville

Bailey Defoor
2 days ago
5 min read

Written by Bailey Defoor

Credit: James Gilbert / Getty Images

Rajah Caruth secures his second career win and place in the playoffs in Nashville after pit crew perfection.

As it unfolded

The qualifying session was cancelled due to weather, and the lineup was set in accordance with the rulebook.

This put Corey Heim on pole with Kaden Honeycutt alongside him for the start.

Heim got ahead clearly on the opening lap, and Corey Day got up from starting fifth. Layne Riggs got loose from the inside and ran Honeycutt high.

The caution came out on lap 2 as fluid was spotted in turn 1.

On lap 4, Frankie Muniz went behind the wall with an engine issue, retiring from the race. The fluid on track was from a blown oil line on Muniz’s truck.

For the restart on lap 11, it was a battle of the Coreys as Heim and Day lined up to take the field to green. Heim, Day and Caruth battled three wide for the lead. Day had the lead for a lap before Heim resumed the lead.

On lap 15, Kyle Busch was penalized with a restart violation and had to drive through pit road.

Riggs began to close in on Heim for the lead as they both ran over a second ahead of Caruth in third place. Riggs got to the inside of Heim on lap 19 and cleared Heim off of the second turn one lap later.

Day, who had dropped to fourth after being shuffled down on the restart, battled with Honeycutt for his position, and Honeycutt took fourth on lap 22.

In the closing laps of the stage, Heim began closing in on Riggs for the lead.

Riggs and Heim reached Busch, who blocked Riggs from putting him a lap down and allowed for Heim to close in. Going into the last lap, Heim went low to try and pass Riggs, but Riggs blocked him, almost causing the two to collide.

Riggs took the stage win despite the late challenge.

Stage 1 Results:

No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports)
No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage)
No. 71 - Rajah Caruth (Spire Motorsports)
No. 19 - Daniel Hemric (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)
No. 45 - Kaden Honeycutt (Niece Motorsports)
No. 7 - Corey Day (Spire Motorsports)
No. 18 - Tyler Ankrum (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)
No. 9 - Grant Enfinger (CR7 Motorsports)
No. 44 - Bayley Currey (Niece Motorsports)
No. 99 - Ben Rhodes (ThorSport Racing)

Pit road opened during the stage caution and all of the front runners pit. Caruth and Heim come off pit road ahead of Riggs.

Caruth and Heim lead the way on lap 54. Caruth cleared Heim immediately as Heim struggled to get going and got a small push from behind.

Another caution comes out on lap 55 after contact between Ty Majeski and Jack Wood when Busch swept around the inside of Majeski and had Wood going sideways. Akinori Ogata spun behind them.

On lap 61, Caruth and Heim lined up the same as the previous restart. Heim had a big push from Riggs and got ahead of Caruth on this restart.

Riggs passed Caruth off of turn 2 for second on lap 78 while Heim continued to slowly pull away from the rest of the field.

Fun fact, Heim is the first driver to lead over 800 laps in the first 12 races in a Truck series season, and with this stage win, Heim has the most any driver has won through 12 races in the series history.

Stage 2 Results:

No. 11 - Corey Heim (TRICON Garage)
No. 34 - Layne Riggs (Front Row Motorsports)
No. 71 - Rajah Caruth (Spire Motorsports)
No. 7 - Corey Day (Spire Motorsports)
No. 45 - Kaden Honeycutt (Niece Motorsports)
No. 9 - Grant Enfinger (CR7 Motorsports)
No. 44 - Bayley Currey (Niece Motorsports)
No. 19 - Daniel Hemric (McAnally Hilgemann Racing)
No. 13 - Jake Garcia (ThorSport Racing)
No. 26 - Dawson Sutton (Rackley W.A.R.)

All of the lead lap drivers pit under the stage caution, and Caruth gets out ahead of Heim again. Riggs had another slow stopp that dropped him from second to eighth.

Caruth lined up on the inside of Heim for the restart on lap 104, and Caruth had the lead into the first turn.

On lap 110, there was a three-way fight for fourth between Day, Riggs and Honeycutt. Riggs got ahead of Day on lap 113.

Riggs surged on to take third from Daniel Hemric on lap 115.

With 10 to go, Heim slowly closed in on Caruth as Caruth began to get tight. Caruth and Heim were about a second ahead of Riggs, but with 8 to go, Riggs joined the battle for first.

On lap 145, Heim got alongside Caruth and challenged for the lead. He couldn’t make the move stick as Riggs looked to the inside of Heim.

Riggs got in front of Heim momentarily on lap 146 after going on the inside, but Heim kept ahead on the outside.

Rajah Caruth wins in Nashville after leading the most laps of the day and making this his second career win, thanking his pit crew as soon as he exited his truck.

Provisional Results