Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson made his third start of the 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season this past Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, and he placed second behind Trackhouse Racing Cup driver Connor Zilisch.
Both drivers were competing for JR Motorsports. Larson was in the No. 88 Chevrolet, which was driven by Zilisch full-time a year ago, and Zilisch was in the No. 1 Chevrolet.
Rajah Caruth, the primary driver of the No. 88 car, drove for Jordan Anderson Racing for the fourth time this year, while Carson Kvapil, the primary driver of the No. 1 car, was behind the wheel of the No. 9 JR Motorsports entry for the second. Both are full-time O'Reilly Series drivers, despite running multiple entries this season.
Kyle Larson replacement confirmed for Kansas
The Bristol race was only supposed to be Larson's second O'Reilly Series race of the year; he won his first at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But he was called upon to race at Darlington Raceway in place of Alex Bowman, his Cup Series teammate who had been lined up to drive the No. 88 car but was still out due to his vertigo diagnosis a few weeks prior. Larson finished fourth in that race.
Larson is not scheduled to be back behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet until the early May race at Texas Motor Speedway, which is his fourth and final scheduled O'Reilly Series start of the year.
However, Caruth is set to spend his fifth race of the year behind the wheel of the No. 32 Chevrolet this weekend at Kansas Speedway, with a return to the No. 88 car not set to come until the following weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Set to replace Larson this weekend is William Byron, another one of Larson's full-time Cup Series teammates. Byron made his first start of the O'Reilly Series season at Phoenix Raceway and placed 13th back in March.
Beyond this weekend, Byron isn't in line to return to NASCAR's second highest level until the June race at Pocono Raceway, which is scheduled to be his third and final series start of the year.
As for the post-Kansas plans for the No. 88 car, Bowman is set to run it for the first, and as of now the only, time in 2026 in late May at Nashville Superspeedway, while Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports' other full-time Cup driver, is set to compete in the July races at Chicagoland Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Caruth, who is in the thick of the playoff mix in 11th place in the point standings, 36 points above the provisional cut line, is set to drive it in all of the other races remaining on the schedule, including the entire nine-race postseason.
Saturday's Kansas Lottery 300 is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Kansas Speedway starting at 7:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the second consecutive NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series night race!
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