Rajah Caruth wins first career Truck Series pole ahead of Las Vegas race

The 21-year-old from Washington, D.C., won his first career pole during Friday's qualifying session for the Victoria's Voice Foundation 200 in Las Vegas. Caruth's previous best career start was third at last season's race at Nashville Superspeedway. Caruth currently sits fifth on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points leaderboard, +15 to the playoff cut-line after two races. Caruth has finished third and eighth, respectively, in the first two races of the 2024 season at Daytona and Atlanta. 

Caruth's teammate and last week's Truck Series winner, Kyle Busch, qualified fourth, with the other Spire Motorsports truck (the No. 77 of Chase Purdy) qualifying 11th. Christian Eckes will start alongside Caruth in the No. 19 Silverado, with Stewart Friesen starting third. 

Other notable qualifiers include defending series champion Ben Rhodes in 13th, Daytona winner Nick Sanchez in 8th and Cup Series drivers Zane Smith and Christopher Bell, who qualified seventh and 14th, respectively. 

Caruth will have a chance to grab his first career win in Friday night’s Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200, but the aforementioned Busch is likely his biggest threat. Busch has won a record 65 Truck Series races for his career and is looking to go back-to-back in Truck Series races at Las Vegas and once more defend his hometown track. 

The Victoria’s Voice Foundation airs on Friday night at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Caruth and Christian Eckes will lead the field to the green flag for 134 laps of action.