Rajah Caruth awarded pole position for O’Reilly event at Watkins Glen

Rajah Caruth has been awarded the pole position for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Mission 200 at The Glen (Watkins Glen International) on Saturday, May 9.

The event’s starting lineup was initially going to be determined through an on-track qualifying session that would split the field of 38 into two-timed qualifying groups, and the competitor who posted the fastest lap between the two groups would be awarded the pole position.

Saturday’s qualifying session was canceled, however, due to rain and the course being hampered by wet conditions. As a result, the lineup was determined through a qualifying metric formula from the NASCAR rulebook. The formula evaluated competitors’ results from the most recent O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event and the current owner’s standings.

This resulted in Caruth being awarded the pole position as his entry, the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry from JR Motorsports, is coming off a victory last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway despite the entry being piloted by Kyle Larson. The No. 88 entry is ranked in second place in the 2026 owner’s standings.

For Saturday’s main event at The Glen, Caruth will start on the front row for an O’Reilly event for a second time this season. He previously started in second place and on the front row alongside teammate Justin Allgaier at Martinsville Speedway in mid-March after that event was also determined through a qualifying metric formula.

Caruth is currently ranked in 15th place in the 2026 driver’s standings as he is navigating his first full-time O’Reilly season of competition between JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet entry and Jordan Anderson Racing’s No. 32 Chevrolet entry. He has made 34 previous starts in the O’Reilly division as he continues the pursuit of his first victory.

Speaking of Allgaier, Caruth will share the front row with the latter. Allgaier, who is leading the O’Reilly standings in both the driver’s and owner’s standings. is coming off a runner-up result from last Saturday’s event at Texas.

Sheldon Creed, rookie Brent Crews (the fastest during Saturday’s practice session) and Sam Mayer will start in the top five, respectively. Parker Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, Jesse Love, Austin Hill and Sammy Smith will start in the top 10, respectively.

With 38 competitors vying for 38 starting spots, all made the main event.

Watkins Glen – Starting lineup:

1. Rajah Caruth
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Sheldon Creed
4. Brent Crews
5. Sam Mayer
6. Parker Retzlaff
7. Brandon Jones
8. Jesse Love
9. Austin Hill
10. Sammy Smith
11. Jeremy Clements
12. Shane van Gisbergen
13. Ryan Sieg
14. William Sawalich
15. Anthony Alfredo
16. Dean Thompson
17. Connor Zilisch
18. Brennan Poole
19. Patrick Staropoli
20. Lavar Scott
21. Alex Guenette
22. Harrison Burton
23. Jeb Burton
24. Blaine Perkins
25. Taylor Gray
26. Josh Bilicki
27. Corey Day
28. Ryan Ellis
29. Ross Chastain
30. Alex Labbe
31. Derek White
32. Glen Reen
33. Kyle Sieg
34. Carson Kvapil
35. Austin Green
36. Will Rodgers
37. Matt Wilson
38. Preston Pardus

The 2026 Mission 200 at The Glen is scheduled to occur on Saturday, May 9, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.