23-yo Rajah Caruth sends message as Hendrick Motorsports gives him Kansas Xfinity shot

Rajah Caruth is set to return to Hendrick Motorsports' No. 17 Chevrolet for the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway. In a recent statement, he talked about the opportunity and shared why he likes the tri-oval ahead of next week's race.

The 23-year-old had earlier competed at the 2023 Truck finale race with Hendrick at Phoenix Raceway and finished 14th, his second-best result in the Xfinity Series. With crew chief Adam Wall, he will now aim to score his first top-10 finish at Kansas.

Caruth's race at Kansas will be his 22nd career Xfinity start. In 2025, he had made two starts in the series at Dover and Daytona with Jordan Anderson Racing, but both races ended with him finishing outside the top-20.

"I feel extremely excited and thankful for the opportunity and for me, I think about how much I've grown since the last time I was fortunate enough to drive a race car out of this building," Rajah Caruth said (via HendrickMotorsports.com.

Caruth has collected 10 starts across the ARCA Series, CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, and Xfinity Series at Kansas Speedway. His best result at the 1.5-mile oval was a second-place finish during an ARCA race in 2022. He talked about his experience at Kansas, saying:

"I believe my experience I've accumulated the last few years in the Truck Series, and my partial Xfinity stuff will put me right where I need to be to run up front and hopefully have a good race. ... Kansas is a track I've loved since the first time I was there in ARCA. The creativity you can have will show at a track like that. So, I’m excited for what it will be like," Caruth added.

Meanwhile, Wall has led the No. 17 team to two wins at Bristol and Charlotte Motor Speedway this season.

Rajah Caruth heads Truck playoff elimination race with 14 points ahead of cutoff line

Rajah Caruth made his debut in the Truck Series in 2022 with Spire Motorsports and got his first win at Las Vegas in 2024. The victory made him only the third African-American driver to win a national series race after Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.

Caruth is currently ranked eighth in the 2025 Truck playoff standings with 14 points above the cut line. He notched his second career win this season in Spire Motorsports' No. 71 Chevrolet at Nashville Superspeedway. The field will be cut from 10 to eight drivers after this week's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where Caruth has never raced before. The Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course will host the first race of the Round of 8 in October.

But next week, Rajah Caruth will join the No. 17 team's other drivers, Corey Day, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Jake Finch in the Xfinity Series.