2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series

2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series

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Champions | Seasons

Jesse Love enters the season as the 2025 champion.

The 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series will be the 45th season of the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season will start in mid-February with the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway and will end with the Hard Rock Bet 300 at Homestead–Miami Speedway on November 7.

Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing enters the season as the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.^[1]

This will be the first year under the new title sponsor, as Xfinity did not extend their sponsorship.^[2] On August 18, 2025, it was announced that O'Reilly Auto Parts will serve as the series sponsor in 2026.^[3]

Teams and drivers

Full-time teams

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Driver	Crew chief	Ref
Chevrolet	Big Machine Racing	48	Nick Sanchez	TBA	[4]
	DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	92	Josh Williams	Steve Addington	[5]
	Haas Factory Team	00	Sheldon Creed	Jonathan Toney	[6][7]
		41	Sam Mayer	TBA	[6][7]
	Hendrick Motorsports	17	Corey Day (R)	Adam Wall	[8]
	Jeremy Clements Racing	51	Jeremy Clements	TBA	[7]
	Jordan Anderson Racing	27	Jeb Burton	TBA	[9]
		31	Blaine Perkins	TBA	[10]
		32	Jordan Anderson TBA	TBA	[11][12][13]
			Rajah Caruth (R) 10
			TBA TBA
	JR Motorsports	1	Carson Kvapil TBA	Rodney Childers	[14][15]
			Connor Zilisch 1
		7	Justin Allgaier	Andrew Overstreet	[16][17][18][19]
		8	Sammy Smith	Cory Shea	[20][21][19]
		88	Rajah Caruth (R) 23	Mardy Lindley	[22][12][19][13]
			TBA TBA
	Peterson Racing	87	Austin Green	TBA	[23]
	Richard Childress Racing	2	Jesse Love	TBA	[24]
		21	Austin Hill	Chad Haney	[7]
	RSS Racing	28	Kyle Sieg	Aedan McHugh	[25]
		39	Ryan Sieg	Matt Noyce	[26]
	SS-Green Light Racing	07	Josh Bilicki	TBA	[27]
	Stanton Barrett Motorsports with Cope Family Racing	30	TBA	George Church	[28][29]
	Viking Motorsports	96	Anthony Alfredo	Josh Graham	[30]
		99	Parker Retzlaff	Danny Efland	[31]
	Young's Motorsports	02	Ryan Ellis	TBA	[32]
		42	TBA	TBA	[33]
Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	19	TBA 4	Seth Chavka	[34][35]
			Brent Crews (R) 29
		20	Brandon Jones	TBA	[7]
	Sam Hunt Racing	24	Harrison Burton	Brian Gainey	[36]
		26	Dean Thompson	Kris Bowen	[36]
TBA	Alpha Prime Racing	44	Brennan Poole	TBA	[37]

All other teams that ran full-time in the Xfinity/O'Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2025 have yet to announce their 2026 plans.

Part-time teams

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Driver	Crew chief	Races	References
Chevrolet	JR Motorsports	9	Ross Chastain	Phillip Bell	TBA	[38][19]
			Shane van Gisbergen		TBA
		TBA	Carson Kvapil	TBA	TBA	[39]
Ford	SPS Racing	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	[40]

Team changes

• Kaulig Racing is pausing their Xfinity Series program for the 2026 season.^[41]
• Sam Hunt Racing will field two full-time cars in 2026 with the No. 24 car expanding from being fielded part-time to full-time.^[36]
• ARCA Menards Series team Sigma Performance Services acquired AM Racing. The team, now known as SPS Racing, will field an entry in the series but did not specify whether it will be full-time or part-time.^[40]
• Cope Family Racing will partner with Stanton Barrett Motorsports, a team returning to NASCAR for the first time since 2015 and the series for the first time since 2008, in 2026 and the team's car will switch from the No. 70 to the No. 30, a number SBM ran in their previous stint in the series from 2007 to 2008.^[29]
• Viking Motorsports will field two full-time cars in 2026 with Anthony Alfredo driving the No. 96 car.^[30]
• After collaborating with Jordan Anderson Racing for two years to jointly field Austin Green's entries with them part-time, Peterson Racing will split from JAR and field their No. 87 car on their own in 2026 with Green and the team running full-time in the series for the first time.^[42]

Driver changes

Rookies

See also: NASCAR Rookie of the Year § Xfinity Series

• Rajah Caruth will move up from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2026, driving a full-time schedule between JR Motorsports in the No. 88^[22] and Jordan Anderson Racing in the No. 32.
• Corey Day will run full-time in 2026, driving the No. 17 for Hendrick Motorsports.^[8]
• Brent Crews will run 29 races in the No. 19 for Joe Gibbs Racing.^[43]

Moving between series

• Connor Zilisch will move up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026 driving full-time for Trackhouse Racing.^[44]
• Leland Honeyman will move down to the ARCA Menards Series in 2026, driving for Nitro Motorsports. Both him and Thomas Annunziata, who will also run full-time in ARCA in 2026,^[45] will not return to Cope Family Racing in 2026.^[46]
• After running full-time with Kaulig Racing in 2025, Daniel Dye and Christian Eckes will both return to the Truck Series full-time in 2026. Dye will continue with Kaulig in the Truck Series with their Ram team while Eckes will return to McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, the team he drove for full-time for in the Truck Series in 2023 and 2024.^[47][48]

Moving teams

• Harrison Burton moved from AM Racing to Sam Hunt Racing for 2026.^[49][36]
• Parker Retzlaff moved from Alpha Prime Racing to Viking Motorsports for 2026. Retzlaff replaced Matt DiBenedetto.^[50][31]
• Josh Bilicki will not return to DGM Racing. He will join SS-Green Light Racing full-time for 2026.^[51][27]
• Josh Williams will return to DGM Racing full-time.^[52]

Moving to part-time schedule

• Connor Zilisch will run part-time for JR Motorsports in 2026, splitting the No. 1 car with Carson Kvapil.^[14]

Crew chief changes

• Rodney Childers, a longtime Cup Series crew chief who most notably worked with Kevin Harvick at Stewart–Haas Racing for several years as a crew chief in the series, will join JRM in 2026 as the crew chief of the No. 1 car in which Kvapil and Zilisch will share.^[14]
• Jim Pohlman, who was the crew chief for JRM's No. 7 car driven by Justin Allgaier, moved up to the Cup Series to crew chief the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing car driven by Kyle Busch.^[18]
• Danny Efland, who was the crew chief of the AM Racing No. 25 car in 2025, will move to Viking Motorsports where he will crew chief their No. 99 car in 2026. He replaces Pat Tryson, who became the head of the team's shop operations.^[31]
• With JRM hiring Rodney Childers to crew chief the No. 1 car, former No. 1 car crew chief Andrew Overstreet will move to their No. 7 car to replace Jim Pohlman who left the team to crew chief for RCR in the Cup Series.^[19]
• JRM crew chiefs Phillip Bell and Cory Shea switched cars for 2026, with Bell moving from the full-time No. 8 to the part-time No. 9 and Shea moving from the part-time No. 9 to the full-time No. 8.^[19]
• Aeden McHugh moved from the No. 70 with Cope Family Racing to the No. 28 with RSS Racing.^[53] George Church will replace McHugh as crew chief for the renumbered No. 30 car for CFR in their new partnership with Stanton Barrett Motorsports.^[29]

Manufacturer changes

• Haas Factory Team will switch from Ford to Chevrolet in 2026, with a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports.^[6]
• RSS Racing will switch from Ford to Chevrolet in 2026 to continue its existing technical alliance with Haas Factory Team.^[26]
• Jeremy Clements Racing will form a technical alliance with Haas Factory Team.^[54][26]
• Viking Motorsports will form a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing.^[55]

Rule changes

• NASCAR Cup Series drivers with three or more years of experience can participate in ten (up from five) regular season races. They are still prohibited from the final race of the regular season, playoffs, and the championship race.^[56]
• The minimum age to participate in an O'Reilly Auto Parts Series event is lowered to 17 years of age. The new rule applies, as in the case of the Truck Series minimum age rule, to short tracks and road courses only which account for 15 races at 12 tracks. Nashville Superspeedway, at 1.33 miles, and longer circuits still require drivers to be 18 years of age.^[57]

Schedule

The 2026 schedule was released on August 20, 2025.

Notes: Race names and title sponsors are subject to change. Not all title sponsors/names of races have been announced for 2026. For the races where a 2026 name and title sponsor has yet to be announced, the title sponsors/names of those races in 2025 are listed.

O Oval track

R Road course

S Street course

No	Race title[58]	Track	Location	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Radio
1	United Rentals 300	O  Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	February 14	5 pm	CW	MRN
2	Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250	O  EchoPark Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	February 21			PRN
3	Focused Health 250	R  Circuit of the Americas	Austin, Texas	February 28	3 pm
4	GOVX 200	O  Phoenix Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	March 7	7:30 pm		MRN
5	The LiUNA!	O  Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Las Vegas, Nevada	March 14	5:30 pm		PRN
6	Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200	O  Darlington Raceway	Darlington, South Carolina	March 21			MRN
7	US Marine Corps 250	O  Martinsville Speedway	Ridgeway, Virginia	March 28	3:30 pm
8	North Carolina Education Lottery 250	O  Rockingham Speedway	Rockingham, North Carolina	April 4	2:30 pm
9	SciAps 300	O  Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, Tennessee	April 11	7:30 pm		PRN
10	Kansas Lottery 300	O  Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, Kansas	April 18	7 pm		MRN
11	Ag-Pro 300	O  Talladega Superspeedway	Lincoln, Alabama	April 25	4 pm
12	Andy's Frozen Custard 340	O  Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas	May 2	3:30 pm		PRN
13	Mission 200 at The Glen	R  Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	May 9	4 pm		MRN
14	BetRivers 200	O  Dover Motor Speedway	Dover, Delaware	May 16			PRN
15	BetMGM 300	O  Charlotte Motor Speedway	Concord, North Carolina	May 23	5 pm
16	Tennessee Lottery 250	O  Nashville Superspeedway	Lebanon, Tennessee	May 30	7:30 pm
17	Explore the Pocono Mountains 250	O  Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	June 13	4 pm		MRN
18	TBA	S  Coronado Street Course	San Diego, California	June 20	5 pm
19	Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250	R  Sonoma Raceway	Sonoma, California	June 27	5:30 pm		PRN
20	TBA	O  Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois	July 4			MRN
21	Focused Health 250	O  EchoPark Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	July 11	7 pm		PRN
22	Pennzoil 250	O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	July 25	4 pm
23	Hy-Vee PERKS 250	O  Iowa Speedway	Newton, Iowa	August 8	5 pm		MRN
24	Wawa 250	O  Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, Florida	August 28	7:30 pm
25	TBA	O  Darlington Raceway	Darlington, South Carolina	September 5
26	Nu Way 200	O  World Wide Technology Raceway	Madison, Illinois	September 12
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Playoffs
Round of 12
27	Food City 300	O  Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, Tennessee	September 18	7:30 pm	CW	PRN
28	Focused Health 302	O  Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Las Vegas, Nevada	October 3
29	Blue Cross NC 250	R  Charlotte Motor Speedway (Roval)	Concord, North Carolina	October 10	4 pm
Round of 8
30	TBA	O  Phoenix Raceway	Avondale, Arizona	October 17	7:30 pm	CW	MRN
31	United Rentals 250	O  Talladega Superspeedway	Lincoln, Alabama	October 24	3:30 pm
32	IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250	O  Martinsville Speedway	Ridgeway, Virginia	October 31	4 pm
Championship 4
33	Hard Rock Bet 300	O  Homestead–Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida	November 7	5 pm	CW	MRN

Schedule changes

• Homestead–Miami Speedway will return to its traditional date as the finale for all three national series.^[59]
• The series will join the Craftsman Truck Series and the Cup Series at the Coronado Street Course.^[60]
• The series will not return to Portland International Raceway, Chicago Street Course, and Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
• The series will return to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since 2019, and the second Darlington race was readded after a one-year hiatus.^[61]

See also

• 2026 NASCAR Cup Series
• 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
• 2026 ARCA Menards Series
• 2026 ARCA Menards Series West
• 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour

References

1. Sturnolio, Zach (November 1, 2025). "The Power of Love! Jesse Love concludes sophomore campaign with first Xfinity Series title". NASCAR. Retrieved November 2, 2025.
2. Srigley, Joseph (February 4, 2025). "Comcast Renews NASCAR Partnership, 'Xfinity Fastest Lap' Program Added for 2025". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
3. Bianchi, Jordan (August 16, 2025). "NASCAR adds O'Reilly Auto Parts as new series sponsor, ending Xfinity pact: Sources". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
4. "Nick Sanchez returning to Big Machine Racing in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. September 28, 2025. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
5. "Josh Williams Again Returns to DGM Racing Full-Time in 2026". DGM Racing. November 14, 2025. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
6. "Haas Factory Team switching to Chevrolet in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. August 5, 2025. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
7. "2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Team/Driver Chart". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
8. "Corey Day to race full time in NASCAR for Hendrick Motorsports in 2026 | Hendrick Motorsports". www.hendrickmotorsports.com. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
9. "Jeb Burton Will Stay With JAR for 2026". Frontstretch. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
10. "Blaine Perkins returning to Jordan Anderson Racing for 2026 season". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. November 20, 2025. Retrieved November 20, 2025.
11. "Jordan Anderson Racing Announces RCR Alliance, All-Star No. 32". Frontstretch. Retrieved November 20, 2025.
12. "Rajah Caruth Will Race Full-Time in The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series". The Daily Down Force. October 22, 2025. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
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15. The Dale Jr. Download (September 30, 2025). "He Has To Go For It" (Podcast). Dirty Mo Media. Event occurs at 1:20:17. Retrieved October 4, 2025.
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21. Page, Scott (September 8, 2025). "Sammy Smith set to return to JR Motorsports in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
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24. "Jesse Love returning to Richard Childress Racing in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. October 24, 2025. Retrieved October 24, 2025.
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26. DeGroot, Nick (November 18, 2025). "Several NASCAR teams announce new alliances for 2026 season". Motorsport Network. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
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28. "Cope Family Racing plans to return full time in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. October 30, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
29. Srigley, Joseph (December 2, 2025). "Cope Family Racing Partnering with Stanton Barrett Motorsports to Field O'Reilly Entry in 2026". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
30. "Viking Motorsports expanding to multiple teams in 2026, Anthony Alfredo driving No. 96". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. December 4, 2025. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
31. Albino, Dustin (November 7, 2025). "Parker Retzlaff joining Viking Motorsports for 2026 season". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
32. Albino, Dustin (November 10, 2025). "Ryan Ellis joining Young's Motorsports for 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
33. "Young's Motorsports expands NASCAR O'Reilly team, signs Ryan Ellis". Motorsport.com. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
34. Christie, Toby (November 24, 2025). "Brent Crews to Pilot No. 19 for JGR in 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
35. "Brent Crews competing in 29 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. November 24, 2025. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
36. "Harrison Burton joining Sam Hunt Racing for 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts season, Dean Thompson returning". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. October 25, 2025. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
37. "Brennan Poole returning to Alpha Prime Racing in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. November 18, 2025. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
38. "Ross Chastain, Shane van Gisbergen running select O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races for JR Motorsports in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. October 21, 2025. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
39. "Carson Kvapil Will Run in O'Reilly in 2026 After All". Frontstretch. October 29, 2025. Retrieved October 29, 2025.
40. "Sigma Performances Services Racing acquires AM Racing". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. November 24, 2025.
41. "Kaulig Racing will pause its Xfinity Series program". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. October 28, 2025. Retrieved October 28, 2025.
42. Srigley, Joseph (December 5, 2025). "Peterson Racing Fielding Full-Time O'Reilly Entry for Austin Green". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
43. Christie, Toby (November 24, 2025). "Brent Crews to Pilot No. 19 for JGR in 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
44. Albert, Zack (August 23, 2025). "Trackhouse Racing taps Connor Zilisch for full Cup Series schedule in 2026". NASCAR. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
45. Kristl, Mark (September 26, 2025). "What We Know About the 2026 ARCA Silly Season". Frontstretch. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
46. "Cope Family Racing plans to return full time in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. October 30, 2025. Retrieved October 30, 2025.
47. "Christian Eckes returning to Truck Series with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. November 20, 2025. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
48. "Kaulig Racing adds Daniel Dye and Justin Haley to RAM 1500 roster". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. October 29, 2025. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
49. "Harrison Burton not returning to AM Racing in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. October 8, 2025. Retrieved October 8, 2025.
50. Damcott, Anthony (November 3, 2025). "Parker Retzlaff Leaving Alpha Prime Racing". Frontstretch. Retrieved November 4, 2025.
51. Srigley, Joseph (November 13, 2025). "Josh Bilicki Not Returning to DGM Racing in 2026". TobyChristie.com.
52. "Josh Williams Again Returns to DGM Racing Full-Time in 2026". DGM Racing. November 14, 2025. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
53. Christie, Toby (November 18, 2025). "RSS Racing Confirms Swap to Chevrolet; Continuation of Haas Alliance in 2026". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
54. "Jeremy Clements Racing forms alliance with Haas Factory Team for 2026 season". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. November 17, 2025. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
55. "Viking Aligning With RCR for 2026". Frontstretch. November 17, 2025. Retrieved November 20, 2025.
56. "NASCAR to allow Cup drivers to run more lower series races UPDATE". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. November 1, 2025. Retrieved November 3, 2025.
57. Albert, Zach (November 1, 2025). "NASCAR officials lower age requirement for O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, expand Cup Series participation limits". NASCAR. Retrieved November 1, 2025.
58. "2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Schedule". NASCAR. Retrieved September 3, 2025.
59. "NASCAR Championship Weekend to return to Homestead in 2026". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. May 7, 2025. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
60. "San Diego to host NASCAR's latest cup series innovation with a street race at Naval Base Coronado". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media. July 23, 2025. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
61. "NASCAR releases 2026 schedule, adding Chicagoland and shifting All-Star to Dover". NASCAR. August 20, 2025. Retrieved August 20, 2025.