Just one full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver took full advantage of NASCAR's loosened restrictions on Cup drivers with at least three years of experience competing in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and the Craftsman Truck Series during the 2026 season, and that driver was Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain.
Chastain ran the maximum 10 O'Reilly Series races and eight Truck Series races following NASCAR's offseason limits increases, and his final two starts of the O'Reilly Series regular season resulted in an interesting bit of history.
Chastain spent five of his 10 O'Reilly Series races behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet forJR Motorsports, winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway for his first series win since 2019. He made his final two starts of the regular season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Iowa Speedway and finished in the top four in both.
With his third place finish at Indy, he played a role in the first 1-2-3-4 finish for a team in O'Reilly Series history. JR Motorsports swept the top four spots in that race, with Carson Kvapil earning his first career win ahead of teammate and points leader Justin Allgaier. Chastain was joined by fellow Cup driver Chase Elliott to round out the top four.
It was just the sixth top four sweep in any NASCAR national series.
Kvapil won again at Iowa, ahead of Rajah Caruth in a career-high second place. It wasn't the first top four sweep to be followed up by a top two sweep, but Chastain's fourth place finish made it the first to be followed up with another race in which the same team took three of the top four spots.
Joe Gibbs Racing's William Sawalich prevented it from becoming the first top three sweep to follow up a top four sweep with his third place finish. Allgaier could only finish 24th after a late incident, while Sammy Smith, the team's other full-time driver who finished 19th at Indy, finished 17th.
JR Motorsports did not enter the No. 9 car in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, instead opting to place their full focus on their four full-time entries, specifically the No. 88 car as Caruth battled to qualify for the postseason, which he was able to do.
Ross Chastain replacement confirmed for Darlington
But the No. 9 Chevrolet is set to return for the postseason opener at Darlington Raceway this weekend, and with Chastain no longer eligible to run that car this year, not only because he's already run 10 races in the series but because of the fact that no full-time Cup drivers are allowed to run any playoff races in other series, it's Jake Finch who is set to drive it.
Finch made his first start of the 2026 season, and his first since making his series debut with Hendrick Motorsports at Dover Motor Speedway in 2025, at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) in July and was involved in a late crash that knocked him out of the race.
His five-race deal with JR Motorsports includes four playoff races, with three more on his schedule aside from this weekend's Darlington opener. He is also set to compete at Bristol Motor Speedway later this month and at both Charlotte Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway in October.
JR Motorsports have no current plans to enter the No. 9 car in any of the other five races on the playoff schedule at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, or Homestead-Miami Speedway, although that remains subject to change.
The Fleetio 200 is set to open up the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason this Saturday, September 5, with live coverage from Darlington Raceway set to be provided by the CW Network starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action from the "Lady in Black"!
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