A race weekend at a NASCAR speedway is a unique experience, and not just for the fans cheering from behind protective fences. The roar of the engines is joyfully deafening, the roar of the crowd is constant, and the action on the track — with and without crashes — is riveting. For two Craftsman Truck Series drivers at the Aug. 15 NASCAR Truck Series race at Richmond Raceway, being on the grid has been a dream come true.
Driver No. 71: Rajah Caruth
While Rajah Caruth didn’t quite get the result he wanted at Richmond Raceway on Aug. 15, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver still heads into the playoffs seeded eighth in the 10-driver field.
Caruth is a native of Washington, D.C., but considers Richmond one of his home tracks. His win at Nashville Superspeedway earlier this season secured the Spire Motorsports driver a spot in the postseason. Caruth is also one of only two Black drivers ever to win a Truck Series race in the division’s 30 years of existence (he has two wins; Bubba Wallace has six).
For several years, Caruth balanced college classes and NASCAR racing while attending Winston-Salem University. He graduated in 2024, and while the heart of the season takes place in the summer months, some of the most crucial races — including the season opener at Daytona and the playoff races — occur when classes are in session.
“It honestly taught me about time management, having your priorities in order and working smarter, not harder,” Caruth says. “I think there’s a difference between the two. And as an adult, you learn how to be selective with your time, your energy, your thoughts and mental space at the end of the day.”
After spending time in the ARCA Menards Series (a rung below the Truck Series), Caruth made his debut in any of NASCAR’s three premier series at Richmond in Xfinity competition. He made assorted Xfinity starts for Alpha Prime Racing in 2022 and 2023, also becoming GMS Racing’s full-time Truck Series driver in the latter year. In 2024, he returned to Spire Motorsports — for which he debuted in trucks in 2022 — for a full-time gig.
“The great thing about being at Spire Motorsports, but also having some affiliation with Hendrick Motorsports and being able to be around the drivers, the executives, the engineers — for me, I’m a race fan number one, a die-hard at that, and also I’m a student,” Caruth says. “Anytime I can be a sponge and absorb and learn, it’s great. I’ve had a lot of opportunities for that over the last handful of years.”
Caruth made an immediate impact in 2024, winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the No. 71 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado and finishing seventh in the standings at the end of the season. Being in the Hendrick Motorsports pipeline allowed him to make an Xfinity Series start in the team’s flagship No. 17 at Phoenix Raceway in 2024. The team has over 300 wins at the Cup level and operates four premier series cars.
“I really just look back on it with a lot of gratitude,” he says of the past several years. “I’ve just been fortunate to have good people behind me, and then at the end of the day, to just really not give up on myself. … You just got to keep plugging away and keep showing up and not let limits set by other people define you and define what your ceiling is.
“I’m super thankful to and blessed to have the folks at Chevrolet, Mr. H [Rick Hendrick] and Ms. Linda [Hendrick] and all the folks at the Hendrick Automotive Group and Motorsports, but also everybody at Spire as well. … But it’s crazy — if you told me that I would have Hendrick on my chest two years ago here, I would have said that you were bugging, that there’s no way.”
Across a field of 35 competitors, Caruth had one of the biggest groups of supporters around his truck ahead of the eero 250 at Richmond on Aug. 15. He finished 19th, but Caruth continues to blaze a trail in NASCAR and credits the people around him for their unwavering support.
“[It’s great to] celebrate the teams that have supported me, their families and the partners that I’ve had,” Caruth says. “To have those tangible results and things to celebrate is super special, and it’s hard to put into words. And then my family. I have a great support system, great partners, great parents, my little sister and homies that hold me accountable but got my back, ride or die.”
Around 3,000 drivers have made Cup Series appearances throughout its 77-year history, and that doesn’t include those limited to Xfinity or Truck Series starts. Caruth is continuing to forge his own path through the NASCAR garage.
“I’ve learned how to have my own authentic experiences and create my own way of doing things, while still listening to advice and being approachable and being coachable,” he says.
The May 2025 win at Nashville was a sigh of relief — it locked Caruth into the postseason, and he picked up a commemorative guitar trophy while he was at it. But he hasn’t taken his foot off the gas. Heading into the playoffs, Caruth had nine top 10 finishes in the 18 regular-season races, including the win, three top fives and 189 laps led.
Bad luck has impacted the No. 71 team at times, too, with late-race issues or on-track incidents beyond Caruth’s control derailing solid runs.
“As far as the playoffs, I think I’ll put myself against anybody in this garage to go to Darlington and have a good race there. Same with Bristol — those are two of my best tracks, and I’m super confident going into those places,” Caruth says. “Not to go into those tracks overzealous or not respecting the facilities, because those tracks are two beasts, and they’ll reach out and grab you if you’re not careful, but I think I’ve put in the work. … My excitement is really high going into those tracks, but I’ve also got the confidence and a little swagger.”
If Caruth returns to the Truck Series next year, he’ll have another shot at a Richmond win in mid-August. If he moves up to the Xfinity Series, Richmond won’t be on the calendar; the track lost a race weekend after the 2024 season, and with it the Xfinity Series’ visit.
“A win [at Richmond] would be so special,” he says. “I remember where I sat here for my first race in 2014 like yesterday. [It] would mean the world, for sure.”
Driver No. 5: Toni Breidinger
One of the most eye-catching color schemes at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ eero 250 at Richmond Raceway on Aug. 15 was Toni Breidinger’s 818 Tequila machine for TRICON Garage. The driver of the green-and-gray Toyota Tundra TRD Pro is the only full-time female driver across NASCAR’s three premier series in 2025.
Breidinger ran several seasons in the ARCA Menards Series and racked up 11 top 10s in 20 starts in 2024. During the trucks’ 2025 regular season, bad luck derailed some solid runs for the No. 5 team at multiple tracks; her best finish through 18 races was 18th at Rockingham Speedway.
The 26-year-old Truck Series rookie has made history as the first female Arab American driver to run in NASCAR, and she also holds the record for most top 10 finishes by a female driver in ARCA competition. Breidinger made her truck debut back in 2023, finishing 15th in a Victoria’s Secret-backed No. 1 machine at Kansas Speedway.
“It’s definitely been a learning curve,” Breidinger says, “but going into it, you just don’t know what you don’t know. So, I feel like I’ve been learning so much more than I ever expected … [Now] I can use some of the notes from earlier races and kind of build off of it a little bit more at this point in the season.”
Breidinger has gotten behind the wheel of a wide variety of cars during her career and currently calls the Toyota stable home, having advanced through the manufacturer’s racing pipeline. She also appeared in the company’s “Sisterhood of Speed” ad in 2023.
“I started off my racing in go-karts when I was 9,” she says. “That was my first time stepping into anything with four wheels on it. I did that until I was about 15, and then I got into midget [series] racing on pavement at tracks like Madera Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, primarily on the West Coast.
“From there, I got an opportunity to get in late models a little bit and dabbled in that, then did some ARCA racing, and now I’m in trucks. So I’ve done a lot of different forms of motor sports, and I feel like I’ve been building up to this moment. It’s cool to finally be in the Truck Series — it’s something that I’ve watched ever since I was little.”
The rookie has 2.5 million Instagram followers, among the most of anyone in NASCAR (the sport’s official account has 4 million followers) sphere. Breidinger’s on-track backing includes brands like Raising Cane’s, Sunoco and Celsius, while other sponsors — including Coach, Dave & Buster’s, and the Kendall Jenner-owned 818 Tequila — have all come on board this year. She even had her very own Hot Wheels die-cast car made, replicating her Toyota GR86 Cup machine, that carried a print of her signature on the packaging.
Breidinger was also a featured athlete in the 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, alongside other stars including WNBA forward Cameron Brink, gymnast Olivia “Livvy” Dunne and Olympic skier Eileen Gu.
“Shooting with SI Swim was amazing,” Breidinger says. “I feel like, this past issue, there were so many amazing athletes in it, and so many amazing women in general, who I was very inspired and empowered by. It was kind of crazy to be a part of that list — to be among those other women was really surreal to me. It’s definitely a core memory, for sure.”
Breidinger is part of a litany of female drivers dating back to 1949, when Sara Christian, Louise Smith and Ethel Mobley all made Cup Series starts. Janet Guthrie, Patty Moise and Danica Patrick are just a few to have climbed behind the wheel throughout the decades.
More recently, Natalie Decker and Hailie Deegan have been among the most prominent female drivers in NASCAR. Katherine Legge made multiple starts in the Cup Series in 2025, adding to a storied resume that includes Indianapolis 500 starts, IMSA endurance racing, Formula E and more. Breidinger spearheads a group of female drivers that includes names like Isabella Robusto and Mandy Chick, both of whom currently race in ARCA competition.
“Everyone has their own path and their own journey, but if I can help pave the way for any of them, I would be honored to do that,” Breidinger says. “There are so many talented female drivers, like Taylor Reimer and Isabella within the Toyota system, who are crushing it themselves. I’m excited to see them climb through the ranks, and I’m truly inspired by what they’re doing.”
The No. 5 is fielded by TRICON Garage, owned by NASCAR veteran David Gilliland. Breidinger has teammates including Corey Heim, who won seven of the Truck Series’ 18 regular season events — including Richmond. She says she leans on them for advice, along with her own crew.
“I feel like I lean mostly on [my crew] within the No. 5 team,” she says, “but [teammates] Tanner [Gray] and Corey obviously have a lot of experience in the Truck Series, so I’ll try to bug them with questions.”
Between racing for 25 weeks out of the year, her off-track commitments and everything in between, Breidinger is doing a little bit of everything under the sun.
“Every day is different,” she says of balancing life on and off the track. “My schedule is never the same. Some weeks I’m focusing purely on racing, and some weeks I have more of the social media appearances and events in the mix. It’s a constant navigation and a constant balance that I’m trying to find.
“It’s tough, but I’m always grateful for all the opportunities, and I’m not one to say no to anything and turn it down. I want to say yes to everything. So, yeah, sometimes the moment is a little overwhelming, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”