Rajah Caruth, a senior at Winston-Salem State University, shone at the Victoria's Voice Foundation 200, grabbing the first-place victory among all NASCAR drivers. Caruth barely edged out second-place finisher Christian Eckes by one-thousandth of a second in the qualifying lap.

“To be here and get my first pole here at Las Vegas is pretty special,” he told reporters. “Hopefully we can have a complete race tonight and be there at the end. I felt like I did my part coming to green, and did all the things in my control so hopefully we'll have a good race tonight.”

Just a few days before his triumphant victory, HendrickCars.com became Caruth's first sponsor. They've already gotten a return on the investment as Caruth becomes the third Black driver in NASCAR history to win at the national level.

Although Caruth, an Atlanta-born, Washington D.C.-raised product, always wanted to race, he struggled to find the opportunities. Instead of getting behind the wheel, he got in front of the computer screen. The soon-to-be graduate from Winston-Salem State taught himself to race on a computer, just like the reigning Daytona 500 winner William Byron. In 2019, Caruth joined the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program, which allowed him to get in-person experience at 17 years old on at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Man, there was a lot of days, especially in high school, that I did not think I could get here,” Caruth told the Associated Press. “I can't tel you how many times I was at internship… working like at the basketball court, whatever, in the box office, just working on my website when I was just iRacing. A lot of these days I didn't think this would at all be possible.”

After graduating high school in 2020, Caruth enrolled at Winston-Salem State, majoring in motorsports management. While juggling school, he recently joined the Truck Series circuit. After his win in Las Vegas, NASCAR icon Bubba Wallace spoke to reporters about his mentorship will Caruth.

“I've been hard on him since Day 1,” he said. “I will never forget the first time watching him in a Legends carat Charlotte and I got in his face. ‘What are you so afraid of the wall for? You haven't even hit.' I feel proud to have played a small part in this. I called him, and he was pumped. But, like, his burnout was lame and his phone call was lame. I was like, ‘Come one man, I'm more pumped than you are.'”

Even at his young age, Caruth hopes his story serves as in inspiration to other aspiring racers.

“If you think you're just going to wake up and be in front of you, it's not,” he said. “You just got to put in the work and listen. Emphasis on ‘listen' because I think about my first years on iRacing, learning how to be fast on there, making a lot of mistakes. Honestly it was kind of the same when I started in real life. I just listened to people that wanted to help me. I put in the work, late nights, early mornings, showing up. I caught some breaks, for sure. I tell thsoe kids, because I know there's a lot out there that are in similar spots than me, ‘Y'all can do it.'”