The top three in the 2022 ARCA Menards Series championship battle will now compete against each other in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Rookie of the Year. On Tuesday, GMS Racing announced Rajah Caruth will pilot the #24 Chevrolet Silverado full-time in 2023.
Caruth battled with Rev Racing team-mate Nick Sanchez and Daniel Dye throughout the 2022 ARCA season, finishing third in the standings with fourteen top tens, eight top fives, and a best finish of second at Kansas.
Sanchez and Dye have also graduated to the Trucks, with the former driving for Rev—who has an alliance with GMS—while the latter will be Caruth’s partner at GMS in the #43.
“I am extremely honoured and really excited to join GMS Racing and be in the fold of a professional race team with so much history,” said Caruth. “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this throughout my whole career, and I’m going to do the best in my power to make the most of it.
“I can’t thank everybody at GMS enough for believing in me and believing that I have what it takes to drive one of their trucks. Same goes for everybody at Chevrolet for their support, we truly wouldn’t be able to make this happen without them.”
2022 also saw Caruth begin racing in the Truck and Xfinity Series. He made waves from the start when he finished eleventh in his Truck début at Gateway for Spire Motorsports, with three later starts coming at Richmond, Bristol, and Phoenix. Caruth entered seven Xfinity races for Alpha Prime Racing and scored top twenties in the final three including a twelfth at Martinsville.
He was one of five black drivers to compete in a NASCAR national series in 2022 alongside Jesse Iwuji, Blake Lothian, Bubba Wallace, and Armani Williams. Caruth was a member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity programme in 2020 and 2021. The Wendell Scott Foundation, whose namesake is the first black race winner in NASCAR history, will sponsor Caruth’s #24.
“We are truly excited to welcome Rajah to our team next year,” added GMS president Mike Beam. “I’ve studied up on him ever since I saw him racing in ARCA, but I know that he’s been on the radar for many people in the industry for quite some time now. It was fun to watch him and Daniel fight for the championship last year, and I think having both of them make the jump up to the Truck Series will be a benefit, because they will both be able to learn together.
“Rajah’s a sharp kid. I’ve seen his work ethic and attention to detail he brings to the race track, and I can tell that he’s hungry. He just started driving a few years ago, so to see how far he’s been able to grow in such a short amount of time has been pretty remarkable. He’s built himself a good name in the garage area and is someone that people like to be around, so he’ll be able to soak up some mentorship lessons from experienced drivers, which should go a long way. I’m excited for him.”
