Winning your first race is always a special moment no matter the level, but what Rajah Caruth was able to do at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is not only special but also historic.
Caruth, who like William Byron, made his way into racing via iRacing, made a lot of people proud on Friday as he captured his first career pole.
That great milestone in Caruth's career would only last a few hours, as he drove the Spire Motorsports No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado to victory lane in Vegas.
Caruth has built on a legacy that will only continue to grow the more he and fellow black driver Bubba Wallace, and those that come after them, win.
Wendell Scott was the first black driver to win a NASCAR national series race in 1963, and the sport went 58 years before Wallace joined him in 2021. Caruth can now put his name alongside them as he became only the third to do so in the long history of NASCAR.
While speaking with Glynn A. Hill from the Washington Post the day after Friday's win, Caruth was still couldn't believe that he had won a NASCAR race.
"Definitely feeling disbelief," Caruth said. "Everything worked out well with the race plan, our pit strategy. I'm just in disbelief that success happened so soon this year."
The way he had performed before the Victoria's Voice Foundation 200, with a third-place finish in the season opener at Daytona, backed up by another top 10 in Atlanta, certainly showed he was going to break through this season.
It was a huge week for Caruth, as earlier in the week, Rick Hendrick boosted Caruth's 2024 season by increasing sponsorship from HendrickCars.com to full-time for the entire year, instead of only the originally planned 10 races.
The win in Las Vegas was also a huge moment for his family, as they were on hand to witness Caruth get the win. His dad was the first person to him after he climbed from his truck on Friday night.
Caruth told FOX Sports 1's Josh Sims that he was thankful for everyone that has helped him get to this point.
"Yeah man it's, surreal," Caruth said. "Thank you so much to HendrickCars.com and Mr. H for putting me in this thing all year, along with the men and women at Spire. Man, they have had a lot of work this winter... the decal shop has been working very hard too. So glad to get the win for Team Chevy. Can't thank my family enough, you know so many people that have helped me get to this point and I just can't believe it."
Congratulations Rajah, you've done it and now everything else will take care of itself! More wins are certainly in your future.
