What was initially a five-race schedule for Jake Finch behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports during the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season was expanded to six races when Phoenix Raceway was added late. Unfortunately for Finch, his DNF at Talladega Superspeedway this past weekend, was his third in a row and fourth in those six races.
This weekend at Martinsville Speedway, the No. 9 Chevrolet is not on the entry list. The car was driven at Martinsville by Lee Pulliam back in March, but Pulliam is set to drive the No. 87 Chevrolet for Peterson Racing this weekend, marking his third start with the team.
JR Motorsports do not currently have plans to run the No. 9 Chevrolet again before the 2026 season concludes, with the only race remaining on the schedule beyond this weekend being next Saturday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Their four full-time entries are Carson Kvapil's No. 1 Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier's No. 7 Chevrolet, Sammy Smith's No. 8 Chevrolet, and Rajah Caruth's No. 88 Chevrolet. Kvapil and Allgaier remain firmly in championship contention.
JR Motorsports' No. 9 team finishes 2026 with three wins
In its limited time (20 total starts), the No. 9 team had plenty of success this year. Full-time Trackhouse Racing Cup drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain combined for eight starts and three wins in the entry this year, with SVG winning the road course races at Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma Raceway and Chastain winning the oval race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The only other driver to have driven the car this year is Kvapil, and he is the primary driver of the team's full-time No. 1 Chevrolet. He was simply moved to the No. 9 car for five of the races in which full-time Trackhouse Cup driver Connor Zilisch returned to the O'Reilly Series in the No. 1 car.
In the races where the No. 9 car was already occupied as well, Kvapil spent time in the No. 91 Chevrolet for DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports to retain his status as a full-time driver. He is fifth in the standings, and at 59 points out of the lead, still has an outside chance at the championship after earning the first two victories of his career over the summer.
Satuday's National Debt Relief 250 is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Martinsville Speedway starting at 4:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and catch all of the action from the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season's penultimate race at the "Paperclip"!
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