In the first NASCAR race of any kind at Chicagoland Speedway since 2019, Chase Elliott made his first start of the 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season for JR Motorsports behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet on Saturday night and finished second.
Elliott, who hadn't run an O'Reilly Series race for JR Motorsports since 2021, became the third different Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series driver to drive the No. 88 car this year.
While Rajah Caruth was confirmed as the replacement for Connor Zilisch, who now competes full-time for Trackhouse Racing at the Cup level, that deal was only for 23 races; the other 10 races were divided up between the Hendrick Cup drivers.
Kyle Larson has already made his three scheduled starts, as has William Byron, and Larson ended up being given Alex Bowman's two starts as well, giving him five total. Elliott has just one more O'Reilly Series start scheduled for 2026, but it's not for this weekend's race at his home track.
Chase Elliott replacement confirmed for Atlanta
Caruth is set to be back behind the wheel of the No. 88 car for Saturday night's race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway), where he finished eighth back in February.
With four races remaining on the regular season schedule, Caruth finds himself 14th in the point standings, 48 points below the playoff cut line. In the nine races during which he has not been in the No. 88 Chevrolet this year, he has driven the No. 32 Chevrolet for Jordan Anderson Racing. Four of his six top 10 finishes have come with JR Motorsports.
The No. 88 team is second in the owner standings, while the No. 32 team is 17th. The only remaining race in which Caruth is set to drive the No. 32 Chevrolet this year is the late July race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Elliott is set to make his second and final O'Reilly Series start of the year.
Caruth is set to drive the No. 88 car throughout the entire nine-race postseason, but he'll have an uphill battle to cement himself as one of the 12 championship-eligible drivers once the playoff reset occurs after late August's regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Caruth's best finish of the year is his fourth place effort at Rockingham Speedway.
Live coverage of the Focused Health 250 from EchoPark Speedway is set to be provided by the CW Network beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, July 11. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and tune in to all of the action from Atlanta!
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