It was straight out of the fairytale. A young boy who grew up as an avid gamer stole the show on the tracks of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The young prodigy of Spire Motorsports, Rajah Caruth, netted his first career victory in the NASCAR series, making him the third black driver to mark a victory in the national series. Standing witness to this iconic feat being unfolded, the NASCAR world poured in their appreciation for the driver. While Caruth had all the reasons to be on cloud nine, his fellow driver, Taylor Gray, seemed to be heartbroken.

After missing out on the first half of the season in the 2023, failing to meet the age demands, the ongoing season marks Gray’s full season in the NASCAR Truck Series. However, with just three races into the season, it seems that disappointment has struck early on this young prodigy, and this was especially evident in the driver’s interview after his race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, despite a fourth place finish.

Tricon Garage’s young prodigy Taylor Gray slams himself for his poor performance

The bullring track of Las Vegas has proved to be favorable for Taylor Gray in the past during his stint in the ARCA Series. The driver had netted victories in his past runs. However, the Truck Series proved to be a steep mountain to climb for the Tricon Garage driver, as he finished fourth in the race. 

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Although a top 5 finish in the competitive world of NASCAR is respectable, for Gray, it is the victory lane that matters the most. As a result, his disappointment was palpable during his post-race interview with Fronstretch. He exclaimed, “Yeah I mean obviously I can’t hang my head too bad. Got stage points in both stages and finished fourth, so a good point overall. Just disappointing. Coming out of the pit road pretty good after the green stop.”

“Get beat straight up. Just lacked a little bit of balance there at the end, I needed to be a little bit tighter to be able to do anything and just go two and three. Just I’m a lot disappointed in myself for not making a big enough adjustment, so I am gonna just hang my head for a couple of days.”

Gray also asserted that the race was nothing less than a “double-edged sword.” While his points standing seem to portray a contended picture, his run on Friday was not up to par. Although he led the pack coming off the pack, the driver felt that he missed the momentum that could earn him a better position.

Rajah Caruth shares his gratefulness to Rick Hendrick

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While Taylor Gray felt it was disappointing after his fourth-place finish, the winner of the race was smiling ear to ear. Rajah Caruth was elated to mark his maiden win on the tracks of Las Vegas.

Speaking to Fox after his clinical victory, Caruth expressed, “It’s surreal. Thanks so much for HendrickCars.com and Mr. (Rick) Hendrick for putting me in this thing all year. I can’t thank my family enough – so many people have helped get me to this point. I can’t believe it.”

“I just tried to stay cool. We lost some track position at one point in the race. We stayed in the game. It was just one step at a time. My guys got me a great (pit) stop and we just executed. There’s more to come, for sure.”

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With such a performance delivered by the young prodigies, it will be interesting to see what is in store for the upcoming weekends as the series moves to Bristol.