The 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is 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 started on February 14 with the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway and will end with the Hard Rock Bet 300 at HomesteadâÂÂMiami Speedway on November 7.
Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing enters the season as the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.
This will be the first year under the new title sponsor, O'Reilly Auto Parts, as Xfinity did not extend their sponsorship.
Teams and drivers
Full-time teams
Part-time teams
Notes:
Team changes
- Kaulig Racing is pausing their Xfinity Series program for the 2026 season.
- 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.
- Young's Motorsports will expand to two full-time cars with the addition of the No. 02 driven by Ryan Ellis.
- ARCA Menards Series team Sigma Performance Services announced the acquisition of AM Racing. The team, renamed to SPS Racing, planned to field an entry in the series but did not specify whether it would be full-time or part-time. However, it was later revealed that the purchase was not finalized, and SPS would return to the ARCA Menards Series with AM continuing its O'Reilly Series operations.
- 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. On January 5, 2026, BarrettâÂÂCope Racing was announced as the merged team's new name.
- Viking Motorsports will field two full-time cars in 2026 with Anthony Alfredo driving the No. 96 car.
- 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.
- SS-Green Light Racing with BRK Racing renumbered their No. 14 car to the No. 0 for 2026. Garrett Smithley, who drove that car in the majority of the races in 2025 and will again in 2026, is synonymous with that number from when he drove it for JD Motorsports from 2016 to 2019.
- Jordan Anderson Racing will expand to three full time entries.
Driver changes
Rookies
Moving between series
Moving teams
Moving to part-time schedule
Crew chief changes
- Rodney Childers, a longtime Cup Series crew chief who most notably worked with Kevin Harvick at StewartâÂÂHaas 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Aeden McHugh moved from the No. 70 with Cope Family Racing to the No. 28 with RSS Racing. George Church will replace McHugh as crew chief for the renumbered No. 30 car for CFR in their new partnership with Stanton Barrett Motorsports.
- Joshua Graham, who previously crew chiefed for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in the Truck Series in 2025, will be the crew chief for Viking Motorsports' new No. 96 car driven by Anthony Alfredo. The two of them worked together in the series in 2024 at Our Motorsports in their No. 5 car.
- Joe Williams Jr, who crew chiefed the Alpha Prime Racing No. 4 car in 2025, will crew chief the new Hettinger Racing No. 5 car in 2026.
- Matt Weber, who was previously an engineer and crew chief for Our Motorsports, which closed down during the 2025 season, will be the new crew chief for Jeremy Clements' No. 51 car in 2026, replacing Kase Kallenbach.
Manufacturer changes
Haas Factory Team switched from Ford to Chevrolet in 2026, with a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports. RSS Racing switched from Ford to Chevrolet in 2026 to continue its existing technical alliance with Haas Factory Team.
Technical Changes
Jeremy Clements Racing will form a technical alliance with Haas Factory Team. Viking Motorsports and Jordan Anderson Racing formed technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing.
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 participating in The Chase and the championship race.
- 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.
- Similar to the Cup Series, NASCAR changed the playoff format for the first time since the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series adapted the playoffs in 2016, the format changed on January 12, 2026. The amount of races in the Chase increased from 7 to 9. The win-and-you're-in, as well as the playoff point after a driver won a stage has been removed.
- On January 16, 2026, NASCAR announced that drivers who enter the garage during a race will no longer be eligible for the "Xfinity Fastest Lap Award". However, the driver's fastest lap before they entered the garage will still stand.
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.
Bolded races indicate Dash 4 Cash race.
Schedule changes
HomesteadâÂÂMiami Speedway will return to its traditional date as the finale for all three national series. The series will join the Craftsman Truck Series and the Cup Series at the Coronado Street Course. The series will not return to Portland International Raceway, Chicago Street Course, and Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃÂguez. 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. The Charlotte Motor Speedway fall race will move away from the roval layout to the oval, after seven years as a road course race.
Season summary
Regular season
At Datona, Austin Hill won the pole. Hill continued his dominance at Superspeedway tracks, winning both stages and the race. The win was Hill's fourth in five seasons at Daytona.
Sam Mayer won the pole at Atlanta. Jesse Love won stage 1, and Rajah Caruth won stage 2, his first career stage win in the O'Reilly series. On the final lap, Austin Hill was looking to defend his win from last year, however Ross Chastain knocked him off the racing line, giving Sheldon Creed his first career win after 15 runner up finishes.
Connor Zilisch won the pole at Austin, with his Cup Series teammate Shane van Gisbergen on the front row. Austin Hill won stage 1, and Sam Mayer won stage 2. Van Gisbergen dominated the race, leading a race-high 31 laps, ultimately winning the race.
Taylor Gray won the pole at Phoenix. Sammy Smith won stage 1, and Jesse Love won stage 2. Justin Allgaier passed Love late in the race, holding him off to win the race, becoming the first driver to win a race in the Nationwide, Xfinity, and O'Reilly era of the series.
Sam Mayer won the pole at Las Vegas. defending race winner Justin Allgaier swept the stages, Kyle Larson would end up winning the race.
Kyle Larson won the pole at Darlington. Larson dominated the race, sweeping the stages and leading all but 40 laps. Justin Allgaier controlled the race after the final restart leading the final 17, claiming his second consecutive win.
Justin Allgaier won the pole at Martinsville after qualifying was canceled due to rain. Allgaier won stage 1, and Austin Hill, the defending race winner, won stage 2. JR Motorsports would dominate the later half of the race, with Allgaier and Lee Pulliam leading majority of the laps "The Big One" would occur with 17 laps remaining, taking out several contenders. Allgaier would later win the race, claiming his second consecutive win.
Results and standings
Race results
Drivers' championship
() <span style="font-size:90%;">Bold â Pole position awarded by time. Italics â Pole position set by final practice results or owner's points. * â Most laps led. <sup>1</sup> â Stage 1 winner. <sup>2</sup> â Stage 2 winner</span>
Owners' championship (Top 15)
() <span style="font-size:90%;">Bold â Pole position awarded by time. Italics â Pole position set by final practice results or owner's points. * â Most laps led. <sup>1</sup> â Stage 1 winner. <sup>2</sup> â Stage 2 winner</span>
Manufacturers' championship
<small>After 7 of 33 races</small>
See also
References