Upstate Racing Media

Rajah Caruth finally announced his move for 2024 after weeks of anticipation. Spire Motorsports will be his new home in the #71 truck in the Nascar Craftsman Truck Series. It was announced that Hendrickcars.com will be the sponsor for the #71 for 10 races throughout the season.

Caruth has driven for the team in the past and spent the 2023 season with GMS. The highly rated prospect will get a chance is some race winning equipment for the 2024 season. He drove for Hendrick Motorsports in one race last year in the Xfinity Series last fall. One would like to think he is one of Rick Hendrick's top prospects for the future.

Picture: Spire Motorsports / X

The 2024 Nascar Cup Series season is now underway with this past weekends Busch Light Clash. A somewhat controversial start to the new season as Nascar officials had to move the race up a day as a kind of spur of the moment decision. This move was widely applauded by the drivers and teams but the fans that were able to show up were able to get in for free. Quick decision making created quite a hectic event at the Coliseum. 

One of the real shockers of qualifying was Christopher Bell not making the show. In the main event, Ty Gibbs let the way for the majority of the race. Restarts and experience behind him by veterans like Joey Logano and Kyle Busch made it difficult for him to maintain his lead. In the end, after a number of bent bumpers and hurt feelings, Denny Hamlin was once again able to beat your favorite driver and seal the win. The podium was rounded it by Kyle Busch and defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney in third. 

In less than two weeks, we will be heading to Daytona for speedweeks. It has been the land of unknown, especially with the previous two winners being Austin Cindric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The underdog is always alive at these superspeedway races, so it will be interesting to see what develops over the next few weeks. Will a seasoned veteran get it done or will it be one of the many young guns in the field. The fight for the championship begins next week for a 36 race battle for the championship. 

Picture: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press