William Byron returned to JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet at Kansas Speedway and drove it to a sixth-place finish, the latest turn in a season-long sharing plan that has kept the car in motion between NASCAR Cup regulars and Rajah Caruth.
Byron made his first start of the season in the car at Phoenix Raceway in March and finished 13th. Kyle Larson has also logged multiple starts in the No. 88 this year, racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway. The next stop for the car is Talladega Superspeedway, where Caruth is set to return this weekend.
JR Motorsports signed Caruth for 23 of 33 races on the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule, but the No. 88 Chevrolet has not been his alone this year. He has missed five races in the car while driving the No. 32 Chevrolet for Jordan Anderson Racing, and he enters Talladega 12th in the standings, the final driver above the playoff cut line and 25 points clear of the cutoff.
That cushion matters because the schedule is tightening. There are five more races this year in which Hendrick Motorsports Cup drivers are lined up to compete in the No. 88 car, with Larson set for Texas Motor Speedway next weekend, Alex Bowman scheduled for Nashville Superspeedway in late May, Byron due for his third and final start at Pocono Raceway in June and Chase Elliott set for the July races at Chicagoland.
The arrangement leaves Caruth balancing two rides and two calendars, while JR Motorsports keeps the No. 88 filled with a mix of its primary driver and Cup talent. Tyler Ankrum is set to make his series debut in the No. 32 car this weekend, giving Jordan Anderson Racing a new driver just as Caruth returns to the seat he has been building around. For now, the numbers say Caruth still has room to breathe, but not much.
Talladega is the next checkpoint, and it comes with the kind of pressure that can erase a points lead in one bad afternoon.