Besides their stupidly catchy advertising jingle, O’Reilly Auto Parts is one of the largest automotive parts sellers in the United States. Naturally, it makes sense the company is also heavily involved in NASCAR by sponsoring various races and cars.
In 2026, O’Reilly will make its biggest splash yet by acquiring the naming rights to NASCAR’s second-tier championship currently called the Xfinity Series. The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will be christened on 1 January 2026.
“Like the great sport of NASCAR, O’Reilly Auto Parts was born in America and built on the hard work and drive of passionate people,” said NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell. “This new partnership allows us to continue to fuel that passion for the next generation of NASCAR’s stars and fans while celebrating the journey we’ve been on together for decades.”
O’Reilly Auto Parts is a subsidiary of O’Reilly Automotive, which was founded in 1957 by Charles O’Reilly and his son Chub. After starting as a small store in Springfield, Missouri, the company expanded rapidly across the state. By the turn of the century, they had a presence across all but two states.
Their NASCAR involvement began in 1998 when they were an associate sponsor on Mike Wallace’s truck at I-70 Speedway. The following year, they became the title sponsor for three Craftsman Truck Series races at I-70, Heartland Park Topeka, and most notably Texas Motor Speedway.
O’Reilly and Texas cultivated a warm relationship over the next two decades. At the Truck level, they were responsible for the O’Reilly 400K until 2004. That same year, the Busch Series (currently Xfinity) event there was dubbed the O’Reilly 300. When Texas gained a second Busch date in 2005, O’Reilly stepped up to sponsor that too to create the O’Reilly Challenge.
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The naming rights for both events were transferred to the auto parts division in 2010, leading to the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 and O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge; the former name lasted until 2015 while the latter continued through 2020. O’Reilly also sponsored the Cup Series’ O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas from 2017 to 2020.
Bristol Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Memphis Motorsports Park, and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course have also had Truck races with the O’Reilly name.
The company’s racing involvement even extended to sponsoring what is now Indianapolis Raceway Park from 2006 to 2010, during which it operated as O’Reilly Raceway Park.
“Our company is rooted in the same values that define NASCAR: teamwork, enthusiasm, and dedication,” O’Reilly president Brent Kirby added. “You’ll see those in action when our customers walk through our doors. We know they need fast service, and Team O’Reilly will get them the parts they need quickly, with excellent customer service. We welcome all fans to stop by our stores and see how our team can help keep them running.”
Xfinity has sponsored NASCAR’s second division since 2015, when they replaced Nationwide Insurance after a seven-year run. For much of the series’ history, it was backed by Anheuser-Busch. Xfinity will remain involved as a top-level partner of NASCAR.
No common name?
The first thought that fans might have on the new name is how to abbreviate it. Given the series will the retailer’s full name, “NORAPS” and “NOAPS” are extremely clunky as opposed to the Xfinity Series‘ “NXS”.
The long acronym might also bring back memories of when the Truck Series had the absurdly long Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2020, for which NASCAR simply used the shorthand of “Gander Truck Series”. One could still skirt by this by calling it the “Truck Series”, much like using “Cup Series” for short when it had a title sponsor.
However, NASCAR’s second tier lacks that luxury. It doesn’t have a common name like its national series counterparts, with the sponsor instead being the lone identifying feature.
Ironically, this was not an issue during the division’s early years. At its inception, it was called the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series, and one would still know the series name even if they dropped the Budweiser branding. In 1985, NASCAR transferred the “Grand National” name from the Winston Cup Series—which had been used for the top flight since 1950—to the second tier to dub it the Busch Grand National Series.
“The Winston Cup Series has reached the pinnacle of motorsports,” NASCAR president Bill France Jr. explained. “Fans throughout the world have come to recognize the Winston Cup name as the number one name.
“Prior to our association with Winston, the Grand National name symbolised the best series in NASCAR. We feel our friends at Winston deserve a name all their own. […] Using the Winston Cup to identify both the drivers and cars in NASCAR’s top division is simply formalising what is basically already being done. We’re just making it official.”
That new name meant one could just call it the “Grand National Series” or “Busch Grand National” if the former was too reminiscent of the old Cup identity. The use of “Grand National” for what is basically the NASCAR equivalent of Formula 2 was also confusing for some, not unlike the second tier of English football being called the EFL Championship. Regardless, that moniker was dropped in 2003 and led to the Busch Series, and that naming pattern has stuck since.
Given how often the title sponsor changes, fans typically prefer to call it what they grew up with while others lampoon it by calling the second tier “Buschfinitywide”. In EA Sports’ NASCAR video games, where Busch’s name is removed to avoid alcohol references, the series was called the NNS (“NASCAR National Series“) though fans might be sceptical since “national” is equivalent to Cup.
