When JR Motorsports confirmed that Rajah Caruth would be the primary driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet for the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, replacing Trackhouse Racing Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch, he was only confirmed for 23 of the 33 races.
The other 10 races were divided up between the four Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series drivers, with William Byron and Kyle Larson each confirmed for three and Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott each confirmed for two. Caruth, meanwhile, was able to land a 10-race deal with Jordan Anderson Racing to remain championship eligible with a full-time schedule.
Byron made his first start of the season two weekends ago at Phoenix Raceway, and he finished in 13th place. Larson made his first start this past weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and found victory lane, while Bowman was scheduled to run his first race this weekend at Darlington Raceway.
However, Bowman has been out of action since removing himself from competition during the Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) three weekends ago. He was later diagnosed with vertigo, and while his status had been day-to-day leading up to confirmations of his absences at Phoenix and Las Vegas, he has now been ruled out for at least the next month.
In addition to the next three Cup Series races, Bowman will not compete in this weekend's O'Reilly Series race.
With the Cup Series also set to run at Darlington this weekend, and with none of the Hendrick drivers scheduled to run more than three races (the limit for full-time Cup Series drivers with at least three seasons of Cup Series experience was recently increased from five to 10) this year, JR Motorsports technically had three go-to candidates readily available to take Bowman's place.
They opted to go with the Las Vegas winner.
Larson won at Darlington in the O'Reilly Series back in 2023, and he also won the Southern 500 that year.
Larson was always the most likely choice to be in the No. 88 car this weekend amid uncertainty about Bowman's future, although Byron and Elliott certainly would not have been bad choices either.
Byron most recently competed at the track "Too Tough to Tame" in the O'Reilly Series back in 2024, and two of Elliott's three most recent starts in the series came at the track, where he registered finishes of fourth and second.
Beyond this weekend, Caruth is set to be back in the No. 88 Chevrolet for the next two races. Larson's two remaining scheduled starts in the car for this year include the races at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and Texas Motor Speedway in May, while Byron's include the races at Kansas Speedway in April and Pocono Raceway in June.
Elliott isn't scheduled to compete in the series until the July races at Chicagoland Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Bowman is tentatively lined up to compete at Nashville Superspeedway in late May, but with the status of his health still in question, that remains up in the air.
Saturday's Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200 is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Darlington Raceway beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!