Bubba Wallace’s prodigy shares his observations on NASCAR racing in the past

Rajah Caruth, who is good friends with his mentor Bubba Wallace, recently shared his thoughts on how racing has changed from when he was "3 years old." The 22-year-old NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver is only the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race following Wendell Scott and Wallace.

Caruth won the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 in Las Vegas this year driving the No. 71 truck for Spire Motorsports. He also had five top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 2024.

Caruth posted on X (formerly Twitter) about watching old NASCAR races on social media and claimed that drivers back in the day did not use drafting tricks like today. He wrote:

"I peep this is before most of the field was prob hip to side drafting and the aero games that literally everyone does now. Plus seems like handling wasn’t easy either"

In a previous tweet, he posted a picture from the 2005 Daytona 500 and wrote:

"Catching up on what I missed when I was 3 years old."

NASCAR drivers today use drafting to go faster and save fuel. This technique reduces air resistance and drag when close behind another car and is particularly useful and entertaining at superspeedways like Talladega and Daytona.

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"What a monumental win for our sport" - Bubba Wallace applauded Caruth for his first win in NASCAR

Bubba Wallace praised Caruth after his win in the Truck Series in March. He wrote on X:

"What a massive win for the little bro! What a monumental win for our sport! Proud is an understatement! LFG!!!!!!! @rajahcaruth_"

Meanwhile, Wallace had six top-5 and 14 top-10 finishes this year and finished the season in 18th place. He got his first and only pole position at Darlington with a speed of 167.146 mph. A crash at Darlington in September hurt his chances of making the playoffs.

Wallace was also fined twice this year, first at the Chicago Street Race where he intentionally collided with Alex Bowman and was fined $50,000 by NASCAR. He was then fined $100,000 for manipulating the Martinsville playoff race.

Last month, 23XI Racing replaced Wallace's crew chief, Bootie Barker, with Charles Denike for the 2025 season.

"23XI has been good to me, and I hope I have been as good for 23XI. Loyalty is important to me and I will continue to do all I can to help everyone here succeed in my new role," Barker said (on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Wallace, 31, welcomed his first son Becks in October this year with his wife, Amanda.