Rajah Caruth will drive the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports full-time in 2027, and the team’s CEO let the news slip on the radio while walking through the lineup, according to On3.
Kelley Earnhardt Miller, co-owner and CEO of JR Motorsports, confirmed Caruth’s return for the full season Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive.” “Super exciting. He deserves to be here another year,” she said, as quoted by Jayski.
JR Motorsports will run five full-time cars next season, with drivers from Trackhouse and Spire joining the mix, according to On3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had addressed Caruth’s 2027 future in August, calling the deal “looking really promising,” as quoted by On3.
Caruth, 24, is a Washington, D.C., native who started on iRacing, studied at Winston-Salem State and came up through NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program. In March 2024 at Las Vegas, he became the third Black national-series winner, following Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace. A second Truck Series win came at Nashville in May 2025.
Caruth has yet to make a start in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Rajah Caruth’s 2026 Season and Contract Questions
The 2026 schedule split him in two. JR Motorsports signed him for 23 of 33 races, and Jordan Anderson Racing signed him to a 10-race deal with the No. 32 that kept him eligible for the full-season points race.
He squeezed into the Chase at Daytona in August and heads into the Homestead-Miami finale ranked 12th among the 12 Chase drivers. His season line shows two top-fives, nine top-10s and one pole, but no wins. Through the first dozen races, the No. 88 produced three of his four top-10 finishes, and the best of them was a fourth-place run at Rockingham.
Financial terms of the 2027 agreement have not been made public. Money has shaped his career all the same, because HendrickCars.com anchors his JR Motorsports starts while he hunted for backing on the rest of the schedule.
“We’re still selling sponsorship. It’s not easy by any means,” Caruth said, as quoted by EssentiallySports. Caruth is one of three active Black drivers in NASCAR’s national series, along with Cup driver Bubba Wallace and O’Reilly Series driver Lavar Scott. “I think me and Rajah go through so many things and we kind of battle it together,” Scott said, as quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
HendrickCars.com first covered his full 23-race Truck Series season in 2024.
Rajah Caruth’s Path to a Cup Series Seat
Wendell Scott ran 495 NASCAR Cup races and won at Jacksonville in December 1963. Wallace won at Talladega in October 2021. Beyond those two, only six other Black drivers have started a top-series race: Elias Bowie, Charlie Scott, George Wiltshire, Randy Bethea, Willy T. Ribbs and Bill Lester. All told, roughly 16 Black drivers have ever competed on a NASCAR track.
Caruth’s route runs through Hendrick. The No. 88 uses engines from Hendrick Motorsports, and for 2026 he gave up a full-time Spire seat to chase the JR Motorsports ride.
He set his expectations in March.
“With JRM, we expect to win and run up front,” Caruth said, as quoted by NASCAR.com.
He has not won an O’Reilly Series race. Next season gives him 33 chances, all in the same car.
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