Rajah Caruth Conquers “Music City,” Takes Home Win at Nashville

Rajah Caruth celebrates his second career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series impressively by winning the 2025 Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo Credit: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

LEBANON, Tenn. – Rajah Caruth entered the 1.330-mile oval at Nashville Superspeedway for Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Rackley Roofing 200 with a reminder of his 31-race winless streak, as he successfully broke the streak by holding off a late charge from Corey Heim, the most successful driver of the 2025 season, to achieve his second career victory in the Truck Series.

Caruth drove the final 15 laps of the 150-lap event flawlessly. Despite Heim and Layne Riggs following in close pursuit of the 22-year-old driver, Caruth stayed collected to hold off the late charge from both drivers and capture victory.

The driver from Atlanta, Georgia, began his pursuit of victory from the 10th spot, quickly making ground up to Heim, who had been battling Caruth’s Spire Motorsports teammate Corey Day for the lead before he joined in on the frenzy for the top spot.

The driver of the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado RST found himself in third place after an early caution came out for Frankie Muniz, bringing both Spire trucks into the fray for the race lead early in the 150-lap sprint.

During Stage 1, Heim and Riggs engaged in a fierce competition for the stage win, with Riggs ultimately overcoming Heim to secure the stage win.

Heim continued his impressive season by claiming his ninth stage victory, setting up an exciting battle for the final 55 laps of the race.

During the caution flag segment, Caruth grabbed the lead on pit road at the end of the second stage. The driver made the most of what his pit crew did for him, never surrendering the race lead for the rest of the night.

Rajah Caruth had to wait a long 31 races to return to victory lane in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish)

Caruth maintained the lead for the rest of the evening. However, as the driver of the No. 71 Chevrolet found clear track ahead for the final 50 laps, both Heim and Riggs gradually began to catch up to the third-year driver.

As Caruth crossed the finish line, Heim had narrowed his gap to just under half a second, but ultimately fell short as Caruth secured his second career Truck Series victory.

The victory marked Caruth’s first win at Nashville, securing his spot in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs. He led a race-high 61 laps, as well as finishing third in both Stage 1 and Stage 2.

Rajah Caruth celebrates in victory lane with the coveted “guitar” trophy after winning the 2025 Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. (Photo Credit: Yasser Khan | The Podium Finish

“I didn’t expect that at all, those guys were breathing down my neck the whole run,” said Caruth after fending off Heim and Riggs late in the Rackley Roofing 200. “My pit crew won that race. They won the race for us, got us off pit road twice. We’ve been off this year, but it was good to get it done tonight. That was a lot of fun.”

Caruth also spoke on behalf of fellow competitor Heim, who was in search of his fifth win of the 2025 campaign in just the 12th race of the season, breathing down the neck of the young driver.

“I asked myself, ‘How bad do you want it?’ I just tried my best, and we had clean air. Their stuff was better, but I just did my best. That was it.”

Heim agreed that losing the lead on the final pit stop was critical, in which the driver of the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra unfortunately couldn’t keep up with the speedy pit stop that the No. 71’s team had put on.

“With the third stage being so straightforward, lack of strategy, going green there, it was tough to come back from not having the lead. But I slid through my (pit) box during the last stop and didn’t do my guys any favors, just something to reflect on my end. Huge congrats to Rajah (Caruth). He did an awesome job managing from the lead. I was free behind him, and he made pretty much the right choice every time as far as where I was going to go.”

Completing the top five, Riggs finished in third place, followed by Daniel Hemric in fourth, with Day achieving his career-best Truck Series finish in fifth place.