Rajah Caruth expresses mixed emotions after P4 finish at Talladega

For Rajah Caruth, the end of the Talladega Truck Series Playoff race went well, but he feels he could have had more. Caruth suffered a penalty for speeding entering pit road and the NASCAR driver couldn’t help but wonder, what if?

Now, coming back to finish P4 is great. So, Rajah Caruth isn’t going to feel too bad about today. When it comes to getting a ticket to the Championship 4 in Phoenix, every driver is going to feel like they could have done a little extra.

Grant Enfinger, Caruth’s teammate at GMS Racing last season, won the race. He had control of it late and never let up.

Here is how Rajah reacted on pit road after the race.

“Pretty mad at myself for taking us out of the game with pitting and we got lucky with catching that yellow,” Caruth explained. “I’m just super proud of everybody on this HendrickCars.com Silverado group, I gotta think Mr. H and Ms. Linda and everybody at Ally for supporting me and letting me run this thing full-time.

“So, I’m just pretty frustrated that I took us out of it there because we were right there with the 9 and the 19 there before the pit cycle started and you know we’re right in the mix. So, wish I could execute better but to leave Talladega a little bit better than we came in is good. Props to Grant he did a great job today and he’s one of the best plate racers, so no surprise that he was the class of the field today.”

Rajah Caruth has two more chances to make Phoenix

While Rajah Caruth walked away with a top-5 finish, it wasn’t enough points-wise. He is still below the cutline. However, he does have two more races before the Championship 4. Homestead-Miami and Martinsville.

These are two tracks that Rajah has had early success on. He enjoys racing at Martinsville in particular. And his one race at Homestead ended in a P8 finish a year ago. Caruth also has two P12 finishes in the Xfinity Series at Martinsville in addition to a P7 finish at the track earlier this season.

Right now, it appears that Christian Eckes and Corey Heim, with 30-point buffers, will make the Championship 4. You never know what will happen, but they have been incredibly consistent this season. So, it’s hard to imagine a collapse over two races.

Rajah Caruth enters Homestead-Miami only five points below the cutline. Ty Majeski is the fourth driver in as it stands right now. He will not be easy to beat at either Homestead or Martinsville, two tracks he excels at.