Bubba Wallace gives Rajah Caruth a shoutout during practice: ‘So proud of him’

Last night, Rajah Caruth won his first career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. His mentor Bubba Wallace is still buzzing about it. With the Cup Series hitting the track for practice and qualifying, Wallace is motivated to perform well this weekend.

With Caruth’s win last night be became the second Black driver, joining Bubba Wallace, to win a Truck Series race. He is just the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race, joining Wallace and Wendell Scott on that list.

For years, Bubba has been a guiding force for Rajah. As a mentor and a friend, the 23XI Racing driver couldn’t be more proud of Caruth.

“I’m going to use the motivation from last night, ole Rajah getting the job done, that was awesome,” Wallace said to Jamie Little on FS1 during Cup practice. “Got me excited to get in the car and try to one-up him, I don’t know how I’m going to do that. So proud of him.

“It’s good to get to a mile and a half, first one of the year for us, Toyotas are strong. First group is stacked so we’re all going against ourself here. Gotta be better than them but our Columbia Toyota Camry is pretty strong. I was a little loose to start, tightened it up a little too much so we’re kind of finding in the middle. She’s fast, so gotta take care of it. The bumps are trecherous, this place will scare the hell out of you if you’re not ready for it.”

After seeing Rajah win his first career pole and first career race win, Bubba Wallace is ready to take care of business in Las Vegas.

Bubba Wallace could win at Las Vegas

Given how strong Toyota has been at intermediate tracks, I like Wallace’s chances. Now, he will have to battle against the Hendrick cars. He will also have to beat out his own teammate Tyler Reddick and his boss, Denny Hamlin.

There are also a few Fords, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, and others that could end up winning to no one’s surprise. Given recent history at Vegas and other 1.5-mile tracks, I think it will be a Toyota/Hendrick Motorsports battle ultimately.

Last year in the Pennzoil 400, Wallace finished P4. He is the only driver this season to have two top-10 finishes, but to make it even better he has two top-5 finishes. So, why not a third for the 23 team this week in Las Vegas?

Of course, Wallace has bad history at this track as well. It was just in 2022 during the playoffs when he wrecked Kyle Larson and then marched into the infield to confront him personally. I’d argue that Bubba Wallace and the one we will see this weekend are not even the same racer at this point.

Bubba is inspired by what he saw last night in the Truck Series. Could he keep the party going and add a win for himself, to go along with Rajah’s, on Sunday?