LEBANON, Tenn. — Rajah Caruth held off Corey Heim in the final laps to win Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.
Heim finished second in the 150-lap race. Layne Riggs placed third. Daniel Hemric finished fourth. Corey Day completed the top five.
“Those guys were breathing down my neck the whole run,” Caruth told FS1 of Heim and Riggs. ” … We’ve been off this year but good to get it done tonight.”
Friday’s victory is the second career Truck win for Caruth, whose path into racing came via iRacing.
“It’s a big deal … to not be a one-win wonder, honestly,” said Caruth, who led a race-high 61 laps. “A lot of guys win one race and that’s it. … Now we’ve got two and we’re in the playoffs.”
Caruth is the fifth driver to earn a playoff spot via a win, joining Heim (four wins), Chandler Smith (two), Hemric (one) and Tyler Ankrum (one).
Caruth scored his first career Truck win in March 2024 at Las Vegas. That win made him the third Black driver in NASCAR history to win a national NASCAR Series race, joining Hall of Famer Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.
Riggs won the first stage Friday night. Heim won the second stage. Heim led 58 laps, becoming the first driver in series history to lead 800 laps in the first 12 races of a season.
“I feel like just clean air was the main thing tonight,” Heim said. “With the third stage tonight being pretty straight forward, with a lack of strategy and all green, it was tough to come back for the lead, but I slid through my box there on the last stop and didn’t do my guys any favors. Just something to reflect on my end, but huge congrats to Rajah (Caruth).
“He did an awesome job managing from the lead. I was really free behind him, and he made pretty much the right move every time where I was going to go.”
