Carton with article protection insert

A method of forming a carton comprising:

• obtaining a carton blank comprising a plurality of panels comprising a top panel, a bottom panel, a first side panel, and a second side panel, and at least one access cut in the top panel;
• obtaining an article protection insert blank comprising a plurality of features, a middle portion, and two outer portions, the middle portion comprises at least one feature of the plurality of features, the plurality of features comprising at least one opening and a plurality of notches, and the two outer portions each having at least one notch of the plurality of notches;
• positioning the article protection insert blank relative to the carton blank;
• forming an interior of the carton at least partially defined by the plurality of panels, the forming the interior of the carton comprising forming an open-ended sleeve;
• loading a plurality of articles in the interior of the carton, each article of the plurality of articles comprising a container having a cap and a shoulder;
• and
• forming an article protection insert from the article protection insert blank and engaging each of the at least one opening and the plurality of notches with a respective article of the plurality of articles, the forming the article protection insert comprising contacting the at least one notch in each of the two outer portions with the caps of the respective containers of the plurality of articles to restrain movement of the containers in the carton and positioning the middle portion to extend downwardly from the two outer portions, the positioning the middle portion comprising contacting the at least one feature in the middle portion with a portion of the articles below the shoulder.