JR Motorsports have only run their fifth entry, the No. 9 Chevrolet, on select occasions throughout the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, but the car has found victory lane three times in its 17 starts.
All three wins came from full-time Cup Series drivers. Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen won twice, doing so on the road courses at Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma Raceway, and teammate Ross Chastain won at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After they did not run the No. 9 Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past weekend, JR Motorsports are set to bring back the car this weekend at Charlotte. But not for Chastain, as full-time Cup drivers are not eligible to compete in O'Reilly Series playoff races.
Jake Finch set to return to JR Motorsports at Charlotte
Instead, it's Jake Finch who is set to return for his fourth start of the year and the fifth of his career. In his most recent start, he finished in a career-high 11th place at Bristol Motor Speedway. He also finished 18th at Darlington Raceway after being knocked out of his first start of the year at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) in a crash.
His lone start of 2025 came with Hendrick Motorsports, when he finished 17th at Dover Motor Speedway in his series debut.
This weekend's Charlotte race is set to be Finch's penultimate race of the 2026 season, as he's also set to compete at Talladega Superspeedway two weeks from now.
He will not compete at Phoenix Raceway next weekend, and he will not compete in the season's final two races at Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. The team do not have any plans to run that car in those races. Aside from Finch's Darlington and Bristol starts, the car has not been entered in any postseason races.
The only other two drivers who have driven the No. 9 Chevrolet this year are Carson Kvapil and Lee Pulliam. Kvapil, who is the primary driver of the team's full-time No. 1 Chevrolet, was moved to the No. 9 car for five races in which full-time Trackhouse Cup driver Connor Zilisch drove the No. 1. Pulliam made just one start at Martinsville back in March.
Tune in to the CW Network at 4:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, October 10 for the live broadcast of the Blue Cross NC 300 from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the fifth of nine races on the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason calendar!
Add us as a preferred source on Google