The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is hosting many talented drivers in 2025. Corey Heim is on top of that list, dominating the season with 8 victories. But even as he trundles towards his evasive championship, he has many talented competitors in his path. One of them is undoubtedly Rajah Caruth, a 23-year-old speedster driving for Spire Motorsports. And like Heim, he may be booked for a possible upgrade in the upcoming season.

JR Motorsports has been the most happening team in the 2025 Xfinity Series season. With 9 victories, Connor Zilisch has already broken several records as a rookie driver. And given his first-ballot choice as a Cup Series driver, JRM will have an opening – leaving fans peeking at Rajah Caruth curiously.

A gate opening for Rajah Caruth?

The Spire Motorsports Truck driver has made 21 starts in Xfinity since 2022. But when he resumed his journey in NASCAR’s second tier in 2025, it was not under Rick Hendrick. Rajah Caruth’s 2024 and 2025 seasons have been sponsored by HendrickCars.com. In post-race interviews, Caruth makes sure to thank “Mr. and Mrs. Hendrick” whenever he can. Despite this visual bond and Caruth’s one-off Xfinity start under Hendrick in 2023, Caruth drove a Jordan Anderson Racing car at Indianapolis. This gave off an air of uncertainty about Caruth’s ambitions in the Xfinity Series. Recently, however, a gate seems to be opening for Caruth – in a NASCAR rumor.

The Daily Downfords is a parody NASCAR account, known for posting jokes and rumors. They had posted about William Byron’s rumored flirtatious activities with pop star Sabrina Carpenter – although the story went viral, Byron took it in stride. This account recently posted about Rajah Caruth’s 2026 plans, writing, “Rajah Caruth is expected to join @JRMotorsports in 2026 on a part-time O’Reily’s schedule. Caruth, Is expected to maintain his full-time, Truck ride in the No. 71 in 2026 as well. An official announcement has not yet been made.” NASCAR on Reddit reposted this rumor, which makes it more legitimate: “Rajah Caruth expected to run part time with JRM in the OAPS for 2026.”

Rajah Caruth netted 3 top 20s in 2022, 5 top 20s in 2023, and made two decent starts in 2025. Now, if he gets under the wing of Dale Earnhardt Jr., the young speedster’s career would get a good head start. Caruth won the Truck race in Nashville this year, fending off heavyweights like Corey Heim and Layne Riggs. Heim praised his racing skills, commending Rajah’s clean skills: “Big congrats to Rajah. He did an awesome job managing from the lead and I was really free behind him and he made pretty much the right choice every time as for where I was gonna go. It’s nice racing against people that aren’t going to wreck you, racing for the race lead.”

Clearly, a good upgrade for Rajah Caruth will not be a surprise. And NASCAR fans are rooting for that, despite the news being just a rumor.

A lot of hope for Caruth

After all, the Spire Motorsports racer has achieved a lot in a short while. In 2024, he cracked the Craftsman Truck Series playoffs early with a victory in Las Vegas – marking his career’s first NASCAR win. He followed that excellence in 2025, and now he sits 7th in points with 3 top fives and 9 top tens, along with one victory. Hence, fans rooted for the rumored upgrade. Somebody applauded the JRM shift: “I like Rajah but he needs to find a little bit more. Running a JRM car will give a good gauge on where he is.”

Somebody else chipped in with a personal rumor and suggested Caruth take over 2024 Xfinity champion Justin Allgaier’s seat. They wrote, “Interesting. I thought there was a rumor he’d be full time in a Spire xfinity car. I hope they find a way to run him full time in the 9 and the 88 becomes the split driver car.”

Some other fans questioned The Daily Downfords’ post, as the account is notoriously known for its parodies. They hoped that Rajah Caruth’s future is still secure: “Hope we are not getting downforded. Would love that for Raj.” However, the NASCAR on Reddit account’s repost gave people a little hope. At the same time, however, some fans found the shortened version of O’Reilly Auto Parts, the new sponsor of NASCAR’s second tier, amusing. They wrote, “I swear…”OAPS” is gonna take some getting used to. I had to stop and think about wtf that was for a sec. 😂.” Another fan gave a little twist on this topic with a reference to Britney Spears’ iconic song. They commented, “OAPS I did it again.”

No matter what the rumors are, Rajah Caruth may have a good future ahead. Let’s wait and see if JRM will have a seat for him or not.