Rajah Caruth will return to the Craftsman Truck Series this season as he joins Spire Motorsports on a full-time basis.
Caruth, an alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program, will drive the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado. He will be teammates with Chase Purdy, the full-time driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet Silverado.
Veteran crew chief Chad Walter will join Spire Motorsports and will serve as crew chief of the No. 71 team. Walter has experience as a crew chief across the three national NASCAR series, which includes 239 races in the Xfinity Series and five wins.
Walter spent last season at GMS Racing. He served as the crew chief of the No. 24 team and guided Caruth to four top-10 finishes.
Caruth has previous experience driving for Spire Motorsports. He made his Truck Series debut in the team’s No. 7 Chevrolet at Gateway in 2022 and finished 11th. Caruth also drove for Spire at Richmond, Bristol and Phoenix that season.
“We’ve talked about seminal moments for Spire Motorsports in the past, and I think this is another one of those moments,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson in a statement. “Rajah Caruth is an exceptional young man. He’s a very talented driver with a bright future. He’s obviously young in his career but he’s mature beyond his years.
“You hear people talk about an ‘it’ factor and when you talk to him and get to know him, it’s pretty obvious he has ‘it.’ We’re exceptionally fortunate to be able to bring Rajah into the mix and pair him with Chad Walter. Those guys worked together last season so to be able to keep them together should go a long way in terms of chemistry and being competitive. Outside of that, this is just a good situation for everyone. It’s as simple as that.”
HendrickCars.com will join Caruth as a primary sponsor for 10 races, starting with the Feb. 16 race at Daytona International Speedway. Spire Motorsports will announce the rest of the sponsor lineup at a later date.
