Carson Kvapil provides clarity to 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series plans

The plans for the 2026 NASCAR season are not entirely clear right now for Carson Kvapil, but he did provide some clarity today. Kvapil has already revealed that he will be racing with JR Motorsports in the No. 1 next year, a car he will split with Connor Zilisch. So what about the rest of the races?

While we don’t know exactly with whom or where Kvapil will race when he isn’t in the JR Motorsports No. 1 car, we know he’s going to be full-time. Speaking to the media today ahead of Championship 4 weekend, Kvapil gave a small update on his future plans.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kvapil already teased an upcoming announcement. It will happen after Phoenix. Still, we can speculate a bit after an update like this from the young driver.

“Carson Kvapil was polite and said he couldn’t go into a lot of details about his full-time campaign, but he did say that he will NOT be driving the No. 1 Chevrolet full time and where he does the remaining races will be JRM-prepared cars,” Chris Knight of CatchFence reported. “He said he was appreciative to everyone for making the 2026 season happen. Likely, he will drive for two different teams, but all with JRM equipment.”

So, what does this mean? Well, it means that there is a car lined up to fill the gaps that the No. 1 car will leave next season. Kvapil has a lot of people in NASCAR who believe in him. His talent is too great not to have a full-time ride.

Carson Kvapil and Rajah Caruth will have similar plans

While it would be ideal to be in one car with one team, you can’t complain about a good deal. Kvapil will likely race a Jordan Anderson Racing car or perhaps one of the Alpha Prime Racing cars. That would be a very big partnership for Alpha Prime to make for next season.

Speaking of APR, Rajah Caruth is also a driver who is likely on a similar plan as Kvapil. Part-time with the No. 88 JR Motorsports car and a second car to make up the rest of the races. Ross Chastain did a two-car season in 2018 and made the playoffs that way. Caruth has deep ties with Alpha Prime. So, it’s an option.

Jordan Anderson Racing seems to be the most likely destination. Those cars are pretty quick already. An alliance with JR Motorsports would take that program to another level. The same could be said of Alpha Prime if they were the team that JRM chose to work with.

Both Kvapil and Caruth need to be in NASCAR. However, they gotta get it done, both of them racing full-time in 2026 is good for the sport. It will be interesting to see if either of them can get a win and make the playoffs with this strategy.