Much to the mortification of the motorsports community, changes could soon be coming to the series where names have been made, the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
CONCORD, N.C. -- Much to the mortification of the motorsports community, changes could soon be coming to the series where names have been made.
A report from Sports Business Journal indicates NASCAR is looking at making the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series the landing spot for its crossover utility vehicle EV it has tested at tracks like the Chicago Street Course and Phoenix Raceway. NASCAR's John Probst told SBJ they're exploring the move to give the series "a better brand identity" and as talks are ongoing with current and prospective manufacturers (OEMs).
To the delight of some people in NASCAR, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., this move isn't imminent
"I hope this never happens," the JR Motorsports owner and 15-time Most Popular Cup Driver Award winner said.
Still, NASCAR faces a dilemma and you don't need to look any further than NOAPS.
Ford, which had the only model on the grid that is still in production on the road, has faded from the grid. With models out of production, Chevrolet dominates the grid while Toyota fills it out with a mix of money propping up their programs in the series.
NOAPS also doesn't have any of the technical underpinnings the NASCAR Cup Series car has to make it similar to its road counterpart, giving an OEM less of an incentive to invest in the series.
While the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series vehicles have a similar technical dilemma as NOAPS, the image of a racing truck is so evocative that it has drawn a company like Stellantis back to NASCAR as they look to turn Ram Trucks around. They invested money into national ad campaigns, a 5-truck team with Kaulig Racing and even a TV show to choose who would drive one of those trucks.
That's just the start, compared to what an EV series could be. "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" has always been motorsports' mantra and a revival of that is possible.
With OEMs trying to evolve electric cars to be comparable in range, efficiency and power to their internal combustion counterparts, NASCAR could be the perfect place to test and tune engines and bodies to produce better EVs for the road.
Better EVs could mean more sales, more money made and OEMs seeing NASCAR as a valuable investment for every facet of their business. If that becomes the case, OEMs may feel more compelled to invest in the sport enough to where teams could more easily base hiring decisions on the talent a driver has than the money they bring.
But what would it take to get fans on board? They have expressed uneasiness over the prospect of EVs in NASCAR, while expressing valuable excitement for NOAPS.
So far in 2026, NOAPS is the only NASCAR national series that has seen a consistent increase in viewership. While NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series viewership has often been in decline, NOAPS had a six-race stretch where five races had at least a 5% increase in viewership. Increases have been as high as 11% (Rockingham), 12% (Kansas), 18% (Martinsville) and even 22% (Kansas).
The series is turning into a cult classic of sorts, akin to a "college football of NASCAR" where you see a rawer, beloved, bygone side of the sport and the sport's rising talent.
Many fans see it as a reprieve from the seventh-generation Cup car's dizzying changes that have drawn mixed to downright negative reaction, which may have driven people to more traditional motorsports, like sprint cars and late models.
But what does a major motorsport do when a call for changes comes from one of the major payers of the purse? That's a question that CW NOAPS analyst Parker Kligerman raised on social media.
"Unlike other sports, motorsports is requested to entirely change its product every few years to satisfy OEMs and technological changes," he said. "The question is: Do you continue to change with them, or prepare a platform that can survive in an OEM-less future? Is that 10 years away? 20 years?"
Kligerman errs on the side of the traditional fans but understands the dilemma.
"I don’t envy NASCAR's situation here," he said. "Invest in keeping things as they are by becoming involved in the parts and pieces that are relevant no where else? Or change with the whims of consumer preference for OEM support, risking the very product your customers love? It’s a really tough spot. My heart says, just stay as is. Let the cup series change but keep one for your hardcore fan base.
"But I’m not staring at the spreadsheet data."
Only time will tell what the spreadsheet data will shake out for the future of the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.