Rajah Caruth’s return to Spire Motorsports in the Truck Series should have been a happy reunion. Instead, it was bittersweet. Caruth stepped in for Kyle Busch following his tragic and untimely death earlier this month, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet in Nashville for the Truck Series race this weekend. It was a great opportunity for Caruth to make a mark with his former team, but a difficult moment nonetheless, as he admitted.

“Obviously, it’s been a tough last eight days for everybody, but at the same time, it was great to see familiar faces,” he said.

Before coming to Nashville Superspeedway, Caruth spent time at Spire’s race shop, reconnecting with people he had worked with during his stint in the Craftsman Truck Series from 2023 to 2025. It was during that visit that he learned he would be driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado, the same truck Kyle Busch had driven to victory at Dover just a few weeks earlier.

Caruth further explained that his father’s sister and girlfriend were also in town, with the buildup to the race becoming more about reconnecting with his old teammates, who were grieving a gut-wrenching loss.

“In tough moments, tough times like this, it’s important to kind of lean on your village and the people around you,” Caruth said.

Spire needed someone to drive the No. 7 truck after Busch’s passing on May 21, and they initially turned to Corey Day for the Charlotte weekend. But Nashville was different. Caruth had already won the Truck Series race there in 2025. He knew the track well, was familiar with the crew, and seemed like the best option to deliver a strong result for the team, and he delivered.

Caruth himself seemed excited about the opportunity of working with people he knew before. “I worked with Chad, I worked with Donald, and got wins with both of them. So hopefully I can get one with Brian and say I won with every crew chief at Spire,” he added.

The biggest challenge for Caruth, however, was filling the void left by Busch. Naturally, questions arose about whether he felt any added pressure carrying Busch’s legacy forward. Thankfully for him, he approached the opportunity exactly as he believed Rowdy would have wanted him to: by staying focused and treating it like any other race.

“I can imagine getting a KB text of just like, ‘Dude, just lock in, just go to work, business as usual,’ over, as much as it can be. So yeah, I think that’s the way I’ve looked at it,” he said.

So, that’s what he did. Starting in Nashville, Rajah Caruth was 25th, but eventually he sliced through the field to finish second. It was his 11th top-5 finish with Spire Motorsports, with his other 10 coming during his two years of driving full-time with the team. Caruth took part in 51 races for the team, winning two, with a best championship result of sixth.

Now, the focus for Rick Hendrick‘s protege, Caruth, shifts to the O’Reilly series, where he will drive the No.32 HendrickCars.com car for Jordan Anderson Racing.

How Richard Childress Racing dealt with Kyle Busch’s tragedy

Busch’s death hit the NASCAR community hard, with the sudden decline in his health shocking the entire garage. A bacterial pneumonia worsened and developed into sepsis, ultimately resulting in his death. In the aftermath, Richard Childress Racing announced a painfully beautiful tribute.

The organization stated that Busch’s No. 8 car would be retired until his son, Brexton, grows up and reaches the Cup Series.

“Richard Childress Racing has elected to suspend use of the No. 8 and will run the No. 33 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and beyond. Kyle Busch was instrumental in the design of RCR’s stylized No. 8, and it has become synonymous with Kyle and an important symbol for his fans and the NASCAR industry. And the reason is deeply personal.

“No one can carry it forward to the level that he did. The No. 8 is reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he is ready to go NASCAR racing,” a statement released by the team read.

However, RCR still holds three Cup Series charters and needed a driver to replace Busch in its lineup. As a result, the team revived the No. 33 Chevrolet, with Austin Hill taking the wheel for the Coca-Cola 600.

NASCAR and RCR also made the unusual decision to remove Busch from the 2026 Cup Series driver standings and transfer the accumulated owner points to the No. 33 team. At the time of his passing, Busch sat 23rd in the standings with 217 points.

The move allowed RCR to preserve its competitive position while also avoiding the sad sight of Busch’s name gradually falling down the rankings as the season continued.