Changes are coming to NASCAR in the 2026 season. Xfinity is out and O’Reilly Auto Parts is in as the sponsor of the sport’s second series. There are also ideas swirling around that could mean more Cup Series drivers racing in the lower-tier series. Return of the Buschwhackers?
In a couple of media hits last week, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell talked about the soon-to-be O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He revealed that there is a possibility the limits on Cup drivers in the series could be changed.
For several years, Cup Series drivers have been limited to five Xfinity Series races per season. There are other limits as well.
Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic spoke about the potential change. There are concerns.
“I need to know the number. Is that, ‘We’re going to add two or three?’ Or is that a, ‘We’re going to add seven, eight, we’re going to really kind of expand it.’ If it’s a couple more, fine. I don’t really have that big of a problem with it,” Bianchi said on The Teardown. “But if it’s a thing where we’re really kind of treading back into the days of when Cup guys would run almost the full, well, they would run full schedules in both Xfinity and Cup, I don’t want to see that.
“I think the rules that are in place are really good. I think it’s been a really nice balance where you still get the Cup drivers come down and let them race, and you let young guys kind of learn from them. But it also doesn’t become a thing where it’s just every week, man, the Cup guys, it feels like this is a Cup light race, right? And that’s not exciting.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series developing its own identity
Jeff Gluck had many of the same concerns. There is a fine line between letting drivers compete more and letting them compete for championships.
“I guess my thing is, I think it’s fine now,” Gluck said. “I get that Cup drivers would like to run more, and you hear Xfinity drivers sometimes go, ‘Oh, it’s fun to race against the Cup guys.’ But I think this whole sort of rise of the Xfinity Series recently has been tied to us getting to know those guys better. Truly, the names are made here. And I would be interested to go back and see how many of these big win seasons, you know, whether it’s a Chase Briscoe or whether it’s an Austin Cindric or Cole Custer, you know – they’re getting moved up because they won so many races. Straight up.
“I remember, there were years in the [Xfinity] Series when there was so many Cup regulars running, the Buschwhackers and all that stuff. … You’d only have like one Xfinity regular, one or two a year. I’m not saying that’s going to happen. But if they raise the limits enough to where they can run pretty much every regular season race, you know, there will be a few Cup guys in every regular season race. … I think the Xfinity Series has been great. They’ve gotten over a million viewers in like every single race or something close to it.”
NASCAR is always changing. It sounds like O’Reilly Auto Parts might want more Cup drivers in the races. So, if that is the case, it will likely be expanded. Will it hurt or help the series if Kyle Larson, for instance, gets eight races instead of five?