Rajah Caruth will lead the field to green in Friday’s Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, after picking up the pole position for the first time in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career.
The 21-year-old driver soared to the top of the speed charts in Friday’s single-vehicle qualifying session in Las Vegas, Nevada, driving the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports.
It’s a significant triumph for Caruth, whose anchor partner HendrickCars.com announced mid-week that they would expand their presence with Caruth in 2024, covering the entirety of the 23-race schedule in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Posting a time of 30.501 seconds (177.043mph) in time trials, Caruth secured the top spot by an extremely minute margin, beating out Christian Eckes by 0.001 seconds.
Eckes, who dominated the first stage of last weekend’s NASCAR Truck Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, will start on the outside of the front row for Friday’s 200-mile contest, with Stewart Friesen earning a somewhat surprising third-place starting spot.
However, due to McAnally-Hilgemann Racing having to change the fuel pump on the No. 19 NAPA AUTOCARE Chevrolet Silverado, will have to start the race at the rear of the pack.
Kyle Busch, winner of last week’s Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, posted the fourth-quickest lap time on Friday, with series points leader Tyler Ankrum rounding out the top five for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing. Ty Majeski was able to sneak into a sea of Chevrolets to qualify in sixth place, while Zane Smith, Nick Sanchez, Daniel Dye, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-10.
With Daniel Dye scoring the pole position last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has produced first-time pole sitters in back-to-back events with Dye and Rajah Caruth, who served as teammates last year for the now-defunct GMS Racing.
Other notables in the field include NASCAR Cup Series winner Christopher Bell, who posted the 14th fastest time in the No. 1 for TRICON Garage. Defending champion Ben Rhodes was one spot ahead in 13th.
Corey Heim, the regular-season champion in the NASCAR Truck Series for 2023, qualified a surprising 25th place in his No. 11 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage, the slowest of the Toyota-backed team’s five trucks in Las Vegas.
All 32 drivers who made a qualifying lap on Friday, from the quickest Rajah Caruth to the slowest of Spencer Boyd, will start the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas with a chance to have a strong run and get their season on-track.
Qualifying Results: NCTS Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 at Las Vegas
