TRUCKS: Rajah Caruth Returning to Spire Motorsports No. 71 in 2025

Rajah Caruth, winner of the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Most Popular Driver Award, will return to Spire Motorsports in 2025, once again driving the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado.

Wanna do it again?@rajahcaruth_ returns to the @HendrickCars No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado in the 2025 season!

📰: https://t.co/oZAa8mJb6A pic.twitter.com/skdfL5avEi
— Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) December 13, 2024

The 22-year-old driver, in addition to announcing his plans for next season, collected his college diploma on Friday, a Bachelor of Science in Motorsports Management from Winston-Salem State University.

HendrickCars.com, the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group, will return as a full-season primary sponsor for Caruth and Spire Motorsports in 2025.

“I’m thrilled to confirm that Rajah Caruth will be back with us in 2025 driving the No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “He took the incredibly high expectations we placed on him to start the year and exceeded them in every way. I’m impressed with how he’s balanced his commitments to his race team, his craft, the media and his growing fanbase while managing a full workload at Winston-Salem State University. Our organization believes in Raj and he has consistently shown the leadership, form and work ethic that every team looks for in a driver. Everyone at Spire Motorsports is really happy to run it back with him next season.”

A native of Washington, D.C., Caruth broke through and captured his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole position and victory earlier this season at Las Vegas, becoming just the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race.

“It is great to have a home and stability heading into next year,” said Caruth. “I believe this is the first time in my career I won’t be with a new team or competing in a different series at the start of the season. I really appreciate the opportunity Jeff (Dickerson) and T.J. (Puchyr) have given me, and I’m excited to continue preparations for 2025. Our organization has really grown over the past year, and we have shown what we are capable of. We have set the bar high for the season and the expectation is to win more races and compete for a championship.”

The 2024 campaign, Caruth's second full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series, was much improved from his 2023 with GMS Racing, collecting a 10.7 average start and 11.6 average finish, with one win, five top-fives, and 12 top-10s.

“Rajah is a young man of tremendous character and has proven to be a great representative of HendrickCars.com and our nearly 11,000 teammates across the country,” said Rick Hendrick, the chairman and CEO of Hendrick Automotive Group. “In addition to being extremely talented, he has an incredible work ethic. We couldn’t be prouder to make this announcement on the same day Rajah and his family celebrate his college graduation. He has a very bright future in the sport, and we are thrilled to continue supporting his journey in 2025.”

Over the last four seasons, Caruth has juggled his full-time academic course load while competing full-time in a touring division. In total, he completed 120 course credit hours while making a combined 108 starts between the Xfinity Series, Truck Series, and ARCA Menards Series.

“I’m glad to be done with school,” added the second-generation college graduate. “It required a lot of hard work and sacrifice, along with diligent time management between coursework and everything associated with racing including team meetings, simulator time and travel. I appreciate everything Dr. (Clay) Harshaw, Dr. (Dennis) Felder and all my professors at Winston-Salem State have done to help me finish school while chasing my dream. It is super cool to have the faculty, student body and WSSU National Alumni Association following me in my journey and cheering me on. The crew chiefs I’ve had through the years have been flexible with my schedule so I could finish this chapter, and I’m ready for racing become my lone focus.”

Spire Motorsports has yet to confirm the team and crew chief lineup for the No. 71 Chevrolet in 2025. Those announcements will come at a later date.