While Rajah Caruth was named the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet as the replacement for the Trackhouse Racing-bound Connor Zilisch for the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, that deal only included 23 of the 33 races on this year's schedule.
The other 10 races were divvied up between the four Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series drivers, and two of them have already made an appearance.
William Byron placed 13th at Phoenix Raceway two weekends ago, and Kyle Larson found victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past Saturday.
Caruth is still a full-time driver, as he drove the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet in those two races, and he is set to do so in the other eight races as well.
One of those other eight races is this coming Saturday's race at Darlington Raceway. But the plans for the No. 88 car are in flux.
Alex Bowman's status in question for NASCAR weekend at Darlington
Alex Bowman had been lined up to compete at the track "Too Tough To Tame", where he hasn't run an O'Reilly Series race since 2013, but he has been sidelined for more than two weeks as a result of his bout with vertigo. He was forced to exit late in the Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and missed both the races at Phoenix and Las Vegas.
In addition to Darlington, he is also currently lined up to run the O'Reilly Series race at Nashville Superspeedway in May.
Even if Bowman is cleared in time to return for Sunday's Goodyear 400 Cup Series race, it's not out of the question that he could simply opt to focus on that race and JR Motorsports could turn to somebody else for Saturday's Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200.
Byron, Larson, and teammate Chase Elliott would all be considered viable options, given the fact that the Cup Series is set to be at the same venue, none of them are lined up to run more than three O'Reilly Series races this season, and NASCAR has significantly eased the restrictions on full-time Cup Series drivers with at least three years of experience running lower series races for 2026.
Larson could very well be back in the No. 88 Chevrolet for the second consecutive weekend after winning at Las Vegas; he won at Darlington in the O'Reilly Series in 2023. His other two scheduled starts for 2026 include the races at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and Texas Motor Speedway in May.
Byron returning is not out of the question either. Darlington was one of the venues on his four-race schedule in the O'Reilly Series back in 2024 with Hendrick Motorsports. His other two scheduled starts for 2026 include the races at Kansas Speedway in April and Pocono Raceway in June.
Elliott is not supposed to drive the No. 88 car until the July races at Chicagoland Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But two of his three most recent O'Reilly Series starts have come at Darlington, one in each of the past two seasons, and they resulted in fourth and second place finishes. And unlike Byron and Larson, Elliott is only lined up for two O'Reilly Series races this year as it is.
As it stands, Bowman remains in the team's plans to compete in Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200, which is set to be shown live on the CW Network from the "Lady in Black" beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 21. But don't be surprised if that changes. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss the 2026 season's sixth race!