LEBANON, Tenn. — In an exhilarating three-way fight for the checkered flag, Rajah Caruth powered to the victory in the Rackley Roofing 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway Friday night.
Caruth, driving the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, held off Truck Series points leader Corey Heim and Stage 1 winner Layne Riggs on his way to his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of his career.
“I didn’t expect that at all,” said Caruth after hearing roars of approval from the Nashville crowd. “Those guys were breathing down my neck the whole time. My pit crew won the race for us. We’ve been off this year but it’s good to get it done tonight.”
Heim held on for second, with Riggs finishing third, Daniel Hemric placing fourth and Corey Day coming in fifth.
The entire grandstand was on its feet for the final 10 laps as Caruth fought back both Heim and Riggs around NASCAR’s biggest concrete track. Caruth finished with a race-high 61 laps led.
“Congrats to Rajah,” said Heim, who will be making his second NASCAR Cup Series start for 23XI Racing on Sunday night in the Cracker Barrel 400. “He did an awesome job fending us off. That was a lot of fun. I’m glad we could put on a good show.”
Heim started first after qualifying was rained out earlier Friday. Heim went on to lead 58 laps, win the second stage and maintain his healthy lead in the Truck Series points standings with his 10th top-10 finish of the season.
“Clean air was the main thing tonight,” said Heim, who is the first driver in Truck Series history to lead 800 laps in the first 12 races of a season. “It was tough to come back from not having the lead. I slid through my box the last stop. I would have loved to get my first guitar but there’s always next time.”
“I had the best seat in the house there at the end,” added Riggs, who led 30 laps. “They were doing some racing there at the end.”
Caruth expertly survived the tight racing at the end after gaining the lead off pit road to start the final stage. Caruth crossed the start-finish line just more than half a second ahead of Heim.
“I was asking myself how bad do you want it,” Caruth said. “I had clean air and I just did my best.”
Caruth, 22, from Washington, D.C., averaged 116.591 mph around the 1.33-mile concrete oval, completing 150 laps in 1 hour, 42 minutes and 40 seconds. Four caution periods took up 27 laps while four leaders exchanged the lead six times.
Among other notables, defending Truck Series champion Ty Majeski finished eighth, rookie Dawson Sutton from Lebanon, Tenn., placed 11th and two-time Nashville Truck Series winner Kyle Busch came in 15th after an early penalty.
Qualifying was canceled due to a light rain shower on Friday afternoon. Heim posted the quickest practice speed later in the day with an average lap speed of 159.286 mph (30.059 seconds).
