“Super thankful for all”: Bubba Wallace’s prodigy addresses winning major award after first season in NASCAR

Bubba Wallace’s mentee, Rajah Caruth, never expected to win the Most Popular Driver Award in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut season. Thanks to his fans, the Winston-Salem State University senior received the honor at the Charlotte Convention Center, where NASCAR hosted its 2024 Awards ceremony and annual banquet.

Caruth made the playoffs by winning his first Truck Series race at Las Vegas in March. By doing so, the 22-year-old Spire Motorsports driver became the third black driver to win a national-level race in NASCAR after Wendell Scott and Wallace.

Expressing gratitude to all his fans through a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Chevy star wrote,

“Thank YOU everyone for voting me for the @NASCAR_Trucks #mostpopulardriver, and your support this season! I appreciate my village of family, friends, teammates, and supporters. I hope everyone has a great holiday season with your loved ones, and I can’t wait to show what we’ve got in the lab for 2025.”

“I just wanted to express my gratitude for you all voting me to win the Most Popular Driver in the Truck Series this season,” Caruth said in the video. “It definitely was unexpected when I was told that I was in the top 5 for voting. I didn’t really believe it at all. It’s awesome to be at the banquet last weekend in Charlotte and being recognized there.”

Caruth would have been happiest if he had qualified for the Championship 4. However, he was overwhelmed with the love and support that he had been receiving all year long.

“I’m super thankful for all of your support, both on and off the race track, online, in person… from having my name written on your chest to buying our diecasts, our merchandise, showing up at our events both on and off the racetrack. It’s been really dream so far in my career and I’m super thankful for you guys,” he added.

Wallace praised his protégé following the latter’s win in the Victoria's Voice Foundation 200. In an interview ahead of the Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that same weekend, the 23XI Racing driver said that he would be using Caruth’s win as motivation for his upcoming race.

“So proud of him”- Bubba Wallace showers Rajah Caruth with praises

Rajah Caruth and Bubba Wallace at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 20, 2023 - Source: Getty

Bubba Wallace has been a friend and mentor to Rajah Caruth throughout the latter’s career. Both are products of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, a developmental program meant to provide professional training to young drivers and pit crew members from diverse backgrounds.

Wallace was impressed with how Caruth seized the win from the pole, holding off fellow racer Tyler Ankrum by 0.851 seconds. In an interview with FS1 following Caruth’s dominant win at the 1.5-mile tri-oval intermediate speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, Wallace said, (via On3):

“I’m going to use the motivation from last night, ole Rajah getting the job done, that was awesome. Got me excited to get in the car and try to one-up him, I don’t know how I’m going to do that. So proud of him.”

There had been talks about Caruth moving to the Xfinity Series under the banner of Chevy teams like JR Motorsports or even Hendrick Motorsports. However, as per renowned journalist Bob Pockrass, the Atlanta native will stay in the Truck Series at least through 2025.