Kyle Larson was initially supposed to make the first of his three scheduled NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts for JR Motorsports behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weekends ago.<\/p>\n
That start did indeed happen<\/a>, just one week after Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series teammate William Byron drove the same car to a 13th place finish at Phoenix Raceway, and Larson found victory lane<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Larson’s schedule then quickly grew to four races<\/a>, as Cup teammate Alex Bowman remained sidelined with vertigo. Bowman had been in line to make the first of his two scheduled O’Reilly Series starts of the season at Darlington Raceway, but Larson got back behind the wheel instead.<\/p>\n Kyle Larson replacement confirmed for Martinsville<\/p>\n Larson finished fourth at Darlington, but he will not be back this weekend at Martinsville. Rajah Caruth, the car’s primary driver<\/a>, is set to return for the first time since he opened the season with three consecutive starts in the No. 88 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n Despite signing only a 23-race deal with JR Motorsports for the 33-race 2026 season, Caruth is still a full-time driver, as he signed with Jordan Anderson Racing<\/a> to drive the No. 32 Chevrolet for the 10 races in which Hendrick Motorsports’ Cup Series drivers are set to run the No. 88 JR Motorsports entry. He finds himself 10th in points through six races, 32 points above the playoff cut line.<\/p>\n As for the No. 88 car’s plans moving forward, the Hendrick Motorsports quartet are currently lined up to make a combined seven additional starts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Larson is set to return for the races at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and Texas Motor Speedway in May, while Byron is set to return for the races at Kansas Speedway in April and Pocono Raceway in June.<\/p>\n Bowman is tentatively set to run the May race at Nashville Superspeedway, while Chase Elliott’s two appearances aren’t scheduled to take place until July at Chicagoland Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n