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Rajah Caruth Looking To Move On From Martinsville’s Difficulties At The Rock 

by racerx55 April 3, 2026 0 comments

Story by Matthew Thomerson

ROCKINGHAM, NC – Rajah Caruth is looking to move on from the Martinsville setback on Saturday at Rockingham Speedway.

Caruth is driving a full-time schedule in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series between multiple cars this season. He is driving the JR Motorsports No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for 23 races and the Jordan Anderson Racing No. 32 Chevrolet for the remaining 10 races. 

Caruth is continuously trying to find the balance between racing for two different cars throughout the season, out of two different shops. Racing for multiple teams has given him a new learning experience. 

“For me, right, I’ve split the year pretty much between the 88 and the 32 and a third with the 88, um, definitely I’ve had some highs for sure, obviously starting off with some top 10s and lead laps and a stage win early in the year,” Caruth said. “And I felt like some strong potential last week at Martinsville as well. And I’ve enjoyed learning what it takes to be competitive at a top organization like JRM, and it’s been great learning that as well. 

“And in that same vein, I’ve loved really getting in the trenches and getting to work with the 32 guys, you know, at Jordan Anderson Racing, because they’ve got the RCR alliance, but that only does so much, right? You still got to put the parts and pieces together and put the things in the right places and really have the whole thing kind of fit together. We’ve had some good runs there with that car and good qualifying runs, good finishes, obviously at Phoenix, and I’m excited for really the rest of the year in both of those cars.”

So far, he has produced a solid season, sitting 10th in points with three top-10 finishes in the first seven races. In a season so far filled with many highlights, Martinsville was a low- light for the young driver.  While running just inside the top-10 in the final laps, battling reigning champion Jesse Love, Caruth sent his car into Turn Three, moving the two cars up and leading to him spinning out. Ultimately, neither driver earned the finish they wanted. Love finished 12th and Caruth 25th.

The two had a very mature conversation post-race, ending with a fist bump as each parted ways. Caruth doesn’t believe that he needed to change much of his approach regarding the incident.

“I know what I could have done differently,” Caruth said at Rockingham Speedway. “There’s probably one, one thing. Obviously, you know, turning through, I would have done better, but everything else, like, I probably, when that changed, you know, what I did, right? I gotta race for myself on my team and stand up for myself, and, you know, like I said, outside of the, probably one thing I would have done different, I’m, you know, I wouldn’t have done anything else different.”

Upon entering Rockingham, there is an expectation that Caruth will get back on track. The No. 88 has shown good pace in every race this season, and Caruth has proved he knows how to get around The Rock. In his lone start at the track in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, he earned a fourth-place finish. 

It will be key for Caruth to continue to make the most of these opportunities in No. 88 and to develop his relationship with the team.

“In the 88, like the opportunities to win are there and you need to take advantage of it. I need to take advantage. But at the same time, like last week, I can’t put myself in spots to lose points and not get, you know, finishes in the top 10, the top 5 are even better.”

A grueling 250 laps await the young JRM driver and the rest of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series field tomorrow. Coverage for the NC Education Lottery 250 presented by Black’s Tire begins at 1:30 p.m. ET. on the CW. 

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com