NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series


The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is the company's second national division, behind the NASCAR Cup Series and in front of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. NOAPS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a Cup Series event scheduled for that weekend.
The series was previously called the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series in 1982 and 1983, the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series from 1984 through 2002, the NASCAR Busch Series from 2003 through 2007, the NASCAR Nationwide Series from 2008 through 2014, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2015 to 2025. Under the Xfinity name, it was sponsored by Comcast via its consumer cable and wireless brand. O'Reilly Auto Parts assumed title sponsorship in 2026.

History

The series emerged from NASCAR's Sportsman division, which had been formed in 1950 as NASCAR's short track race division. It was NASCAR's fourth series. The sportsman cars were not current model cars and could be modified more, but not as much as Modified series cars. It became the Late Model Sportsman Series in 1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks such as Daytona International Speedway. Drivers used obsolete Grand National cars on larger tracks but by the inception of the touring format in 1982, the series used older compact cars. Short track cars with relatively small 300 cubic inch V-8 motors were used. Drivers used smaller current year models featuring V6 motors.
The modern-day O'Reilly Auto Parts Series was formed in 1982, when Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its Budweiser brand. In 1984, the series switched sponsorship to Anheuser-Busch's Busch Beer brand and was renamed the Busch Grand National Series.
"Grand National" was dropped from the series' title in 2003 as part of NASCAR's brand identity. Anheuser-Busch dropped the sponsorship after the 2007 season; Nationwide Insurance took over the sponsorship for the 2008 season, renaming it the Nationwide Series. The Nationwide sponsorship was a seven-year contract, and did not include the banking and mortgage departments of Nationwide. The sponsorship reportedly carried a $10 million commitment for 2008, with 6% annual escalations thereafter.
On September 3, 2014, it was announced that Comcast would become the new title sponsor of the series via its cable television and internet brand Xfinity, renaming it the Xfinity Series.
In 2016, NASCAR implemented a seven-race Chase system similar to the one used in the NASCAR Cup Series.
O'Reilly Auto Parts race fields have varied in the number of drivers. Prior to 2013, the grid size resembled its Cup counterpart with 43 cars per race; that year, it shrank to 40 maximum cars. The field was further reduced in 2019 and 2020 to 38 and 36, respectively. During the 2020 season, fields were temporarily increased to 40 cars again to accommodate part-time teams that were otherwise unable to qualify due to such sessions being canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In February 2025, Comcast renewed its sponsorships of NASCAR, but dropped its sponsorship of the Xfinity Series after the 2025 season. The company elected to focus more on Xfinity's "Premier Partner" sponsorship for the Cup Series, as well as its sponsorship of the newly-introduced fastest lap award in the three national series. On August 18, 2025, NASCAR announced that O'Reilly Auto Parts would become the new title sponsor of the series beginning in the 2026 season, renaming it the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Races held outside the U.S.

On March 6, 2005, the series held its first race outside the United States, the Telcel-Motorola 200. The race was held in Mexico City, Mexico at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a track that has held Formula One and Champ Car races in the past. It was won by Martin Truex Jr. On August 4, 2007, the series held its second race outside the United States, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, another road course. It was won by Kevin Harvick, while Quebec native Patrick Carpentier finished second. In July 2008, NASCAR announced that the Nationwide Series would not return to Mexico City in 2009, and in 2012 they announced that it would not be returning to Montreal in 2013. In 2025 the then-Xfinity Series returned to Mexico City where Mexican native Daniel Suárez won.
DateRace nameLocationTrackRace winner
March 6, 2005Telcel Motorola 200

Tracks

The Chase

In 2026, the NOAPS and Craftsman Truck Series adopted a Chase format similar to the NASCAR Cup Series, which replaced the prior Playoff system used from 2016 to 2025. Unlike the Cup Series, whose Chase consists of ten races and 16 drivers, the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase consists of nine races and 12 drivers. After the twenty-fourth race of the season, the top 12 drivers in points qualify for the Chase with the points set based on their regular season position:

Television broadcasting

United States

In the 1980s, races were sparsely shown, mainly by ESPN if they were covering the cup race at the same track. Starting in 1990, more races began to be shown. By the mid-1990s, all races were shown. Most standalone races were aired on TNN, which helped grow coverage of the series, while races that were companion races with Winston Cup dates mostly aired on the network airing the Cup race. TNN aired some of these races, which also aired on CBS, NBC, ESPN, ABC and TBS.
From 2001 until 2006, Fox Sports covered the entire first half of the Busch Grand National season, while NBC and TNT both aired races during the second half, with Turner Sports producing all the coverage for both networks. However, in even numbered years, coverage was changed, with the opening race at Daytona airing on NBC in 2004, on TNT in 2002 and 2006 and the track's July race airing on FX. Large portions of Fox's coverage aired on sister network FX, with a few marquee events on the network itself.
From 2007 until 2014, ESPN was the home of the renamed Nationwide Series. Generally four races per season aired on ABC, with the remainder on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNews. Early in ESPN's run, ESPN Classic was used for NNS overflow, however with less carriage of that network, this practice ended. Fox Sports made a return to the series, airing the 2011 Bubba Burger 250 at Richmond on Speed Channel, as ESPN gave up its exclusive rights to the race because of programming conflicts.
In 2015, the NXS returned to Fox Sports during the first half of the season. Like the previous time Fox held rights to the series, most of the coverage aired on cable, though this time on FS1. Four races aired on Fox itself until 2019, when all races moved to FS1. The second half of the NXS season was televised by NBC Sports. Four to five races air on NBC itself, while the others air on NBCSN or, during the Olympics, CNBC or USA Network. Since 2021, USA Network had carried all races not aired on NBC or Fox Sports.
On July 28, 2023, it was announced the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series will move exclusively to The CW in 2025 as part of a seven-year deal. It was then announced on April 11, 2024, that the move would begin a year early to broadcast the final eight races of the 2024 season.

Latin America

The NOAPS is available in most Latin American countries on cable and satellite TV. Since 2006, Fox Sports 3 carries live coverage of all events. The races are also shown on Fox Sports Latin America, some of them live and some tape-delayed depending on the network's schedule. Televisa Deportes also broadcast a 30-minute recap every Sunday morning on national television in Mexico. In Brazil, BandSports carries all three series.

Australia

's additional high-definition service, ONE, began broadcasting races from the NOAPS live or near live during the 2008 season. ONE continued to air highlights packages of each race until the end of 2014. Broadcasts of the series are now exclusively shown on the Fox Sports pay TV channels.

Canada

All races are live on TSN channels using The CW’s coverage. Also, races are broadcast on RDS or RDS2 in French using the world feed produced by NASCAR.

Europe

In 2012, Motors TV broadcast all then-Xfinity races live, delayed and highlights, until 2018 when the channel ceased operations.
In Portugal, SPORT TV broadcasts every O'Reilly Auto Parts race live.
In the United Kingdom, the O'Reilly Auto Parts races—in full and highlights—are available on Premier Sports 2.

Asia

All races are live on Sports Illustrated Television channels using FOX's or NBC's coverage with highlights on Fox Sports Asia.

"Buschwhacking"

Since the early days of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, many NASCAR Cup Series drivers have used their days off to drive in the NOAPS. This can be for any number of reasons, most prominent or often claimed is to gain more "seat time", or to familiarize themselves with the track. Examples of this would be Dale Earnhardt, who won the very first NOAPS race, and Kyle Busch, who has won the most races in NOAPS history.
In recent years, this practice had been dubbed "Buschwhacking" by its detractors. The colloquialism originated when Anheuser-Busch was the main sponsor of the series by combining the name "Busch" with the term "bushwhacker," but it has gradually fallen out of use since Anheuser-Busch's sponsorship ended. Other nicknames, such as Claim Jumper, and Signal Pirate have never really caught on, although the generic term "Cup leech" is often used after the end of Busch sponsorship.
Critics claim that NASCAR Cup Series drivers racing in the NOAPS take away opportunities from the NOAPS regulars, usually younger and less experienced drivers. On the other hand, many fans claim that without the NASCAR Cup Series stars and the large amount of fan interest they attract on their own races, the NOAPS would be inadequate as a top national division. In addition, many NOAPS drivers have welcomed the Cup drivers because it gives them the opportunity to drive with more seasoned veterans.
In 2007, the NASCAR Cup Series began racing with the Car of Tomorrow, a radically new specification different from the NOAPS. NASCAR Cup Series drivers have admitted that driving the O'Reilly Auto Parts car the day before the race does little to help with the NASCAR Cup Series race, as the cars differ greatly. This loosely resulted in the new Nationwide Series car making its debut in the 2010 Subway Jalapeño 250 at Daytona International Speedway. This car has a set-up closer to the current Cup car and some Cup drivers who have tested the car say it has similar handling characteristics. The new car has gone full-time since the 2011 season. In 2007, six out of the top ten drivers in the final point standings were Cup regulars, with Jason Leffler being the only non-Cup driver in that group to win a race in 2007. This number decreased from 2006 when 8 out of 10 drivers were Cup regulars. The decreased number is attributed to Cup regulars running only partial schedules, allowing for more NAOPS regulars to reach the top ten in points. However, the champions from 2006 to 2010 were all Cup regulars driving the full series schedule. As a result, beginning with the 2011 season, NASCAR implemented a rule stating that drivers could only compete for the drivers' championship in one of three national series of the drivers' choosing.
On October 26, 2016, NASCAR announced plans to limit Cup participation in the lower series starting in 2017. Cup drivers who were competing for points in the Cup Series with at least five years of experience in the series would be allowed to compete in up to 10 NAOPS races, but are banned from racing in the series' regular season finale, Playoff, and Dash 4 Cash races.