If Rajah Caruth can manage to qualify for the 12-driver NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series "Chase" postseason, he looks like he'll be in a pretty solid spot.
JR Motorsports is a championship-caliber race team, and the No. 88 JR Motorsports team is second in the owner standings, while the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing team is 17th. Caruth has run six races for both through the first 12 races of the 2026 season.
His results have unsurprisingly been better for JR Motorsports. He has earned three of his four top 10 finishes, including his season-best result of fourth place at Rockingham Speedway, in the No. 88 car, and his average finish is 1.83 spots higher than it is in the No. 32 car.
After his first DNF of the year at Texas Motor Speedway in the No. 32 Chevrolet, Caruth finds himself below the playoff cut line for the first time in 2026. He is 15th in the point standings, 14 points behind Haas Factory Team's Sam Mayer for the 12th and final postseason spot.
Caruth is set to spend the entire nine-race playoffs behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet, as its only other drivers for this year are the four full-time Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series drivers. As full-time Cup drivers, they are ineligible to run O'Reilly Series postseason races. The question is whether he has what it takes to qualify for the 12-driver field.
Rajah Caruth back to JR Motorsports at Watkins Glen
Kyle Larson has already run his four O'Reilly Series races in the No. 88 car, and he won twice, while William Byron has run two of his three; he is set to return in June at Pocono Raceway.
Alex Bowman, whose Darlington Raceway appearance was shifted to Larson as a result of his vertigo diagnosis, is set to run the race at Nashville Superspeedway later this month. Chase Elliott is set to run the July races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway.
Caruth is set to be in the No. 32 car for all four of those races.
This weekend at Watkins Glen International, where Caruth has never run in the O'Reilly Series and owns a 32nd place DNF in the Craftsman Truck Series from a year ago, he is set to be back in the No. 88 Chevrolet.
The 23-year-old Atlanta, Georgia native is set to drive the No. 88 car in eight of the regular season's final 12 races, including three in a row starting this weekend, as he attempts to get back above the playoff cut line and into the top 12 in the standings.
The Mission 200 at the Glen is scheduled to take place at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 9, and it is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Watkins Glen International. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!
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