With three races remaining on the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule, every race matters, and every point matters. That's a concept with which Rajah Caruth, in his first full season at NASCAR's second-highest level, has become quite familiar.
Caruth has split time behind the wheel of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet this season. He was tabbed to replace Connor Zilisch behind the wheel of the former, but only for 23 of 33 races, with Hendrick Motorsports' Cup Series drivers splitting the other 10.
Caruth has had a respectable season, especially considering the fact that, through 21 races, he's changed teams a total of 10 times, and it's set to become 11 times in 22 races this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Rajah Caruth replacement confirmed for Indianapolis
For the 10th and final time this year, a Hendrick Cup driver is set to replace Caruth behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet, and for the second time, it's Chase Elliott, who placed runner-up at Chicagoland Speedway three weekends ago in the No. 88 car.
Caruth is 13th in the point standings, making him the top driver below the cut line to qualify for the 12-driver playoffs, and he's just 17 points below that cutoff, which sits beneath Joe Gibbs Racing's Taylor Gray. Caruth is just four points up on the next highest driver, that being Gray's teammate, William Sawalich.
Caruth is also just 33 points behind Haas Factory Team's Sam Mayer and 18 points behind Joe Gibbs Racing's Brent Crews, so it might not necessarily require him to pass Gray to get in; there are a lot of possibilities still in play.
But if he does qualify for the playoffs, the fact that he is set to be behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet for the entire nine-race postseason should serve him well, given the fact that the No. 88 car is second in the owner standings, while the No. 32 car is 18th.
Of course, this doesn't mean Caruth isn't capable of delivering results in the No. 32 Chevrolet; although his top finish of the year (fourth) came with JR Motorsports at Rockingham Speedway, he has two top eight finishes in both the No. 32 car and the No. 88 car, despite having driven the No. 32 car in fewer races.
But if Caruth is going to make a playoff run, there's no doubt that being a full-time JR Motorsports driver would put him in a much better spot to make some noise. The big question is whether or not he can actually get into the top 12 to solidify a seat at the table.
After this weekend, he is set to drive the No. 88 car in the regular season's final two races at Iowa Speedway and Daytona International Speedway, beginning his season-ending 11-race stretch for JRM. There are two weeks scheduled between the Indy and Iowa races and another three weeks scheduled between the Iowa and Daytona races.
Live coverage of the Pennzoil 250 is set to be provided by the CW Network from Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting at 4:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, July 25. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the antepenultimate race of the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series regular season!
