NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series 2026 Guide: Schedule, TV, Results and Standings

2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at a glance

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is the new-for-2026 name of NASCAR’s second-tier national championship, previously called the Xfinity Series. The season contains 33 races, and every race airs on The CW. As of August 19, 2026, the series had completed Race 23 at Iowa Speedway, with the Daytona regular-season finale scheduled for Friday, August 28, before a nine-race Chase decides the champion.

This guide brings the moving pieces together: the remaining dates and Eastern start times, the difference between The CW broadcast and app access, the latest confirmed result, and the battle around the 12-driver Chase cut line. Schedule, results, and points facts below were checked against first-party records on August 19. Because broadcast details and event schedules can change, use the linked live pages for a final race-week check.

What changed when the Xfinity Series became the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series?

The shortest answer is that the title sponsor changed, but the national series continued. O’Reilly Auto Parts entered a multiyear agreement to replace Xfinity as the entitlement sponsor, and the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series name officially took effect on January 1, 2026. The teams, championship lineage and place in NASCAR’s ladder did not reset. This remains NASCAR’s No. 2 national series, positioned below the Cup Series and above the Craftsman Truck Series.

That distinction matters when searching for schedules or historical statistics. A result labeled “Xfinity Series” from 2025 belongs to the direct predecessor of the 2026 O’Reilly Series, not to a different parallel championship. Likewise, old bookmarks and search snippets can retain “Xfinity” even after a page has been updated. Match the season, track and date before assuming that two labels describe two separate events.

A new sponsor in a long naming history

NASCAR’s official sponsorship announcement calls O’Reilly the fourth entitlement sponsor in the series’ history. Xfinity held the naming rights for 11 seasons, beginning in 2015. Nationwide Insurance preceded it for seven seasons, while the earlier Anheuser-Busch relationship produced the names many longtime fans still use conversationally. The sponsor labels changed, but records such as race wins and series championships remained part of one continuous history.

The agreement was described as multiyear, but the announcement did not publish a final contract season. It would therefore be inaccurate to assign the O’Reilly name an end date. For current planning, use the 2026 name on official listings and treat “Xfinity” as a useful historical search term.

The change also does not mean every NASCAR event is now an O’Reilly Series race. Cup, Truck and ARCA competitions retain their own identities, rules and broadcast arrangements. Check the series label on a ticket or TV listing, then use the site’s NASCAR schedule to compare the national-series weekend. That simple check prevents a Saturday O’Reilly start from being confused with the Cup race at the same track on Sunday.

2026 schedule: what is completed and what remains?

The 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series calendar has 33 points races. Twenty-three were complete through Iowa Speedway on August 8, leaving ten scheduled events as of this guide’s August 19 check. The next one is unusually important: Daytona on Friday, August 28 is Race 24 and the regular-season finale. The 12-driver field is set after that race, then the nine-race Chase runs from Darlington through the championship at Homestead-Miami.

Remaining 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series dates

All start times below are Eastern and all ten races are scheduled for The CW. “Chase” describes the championship phase; it does not mean every driver outside the top 12 stops racing. The full field still competes, while the eligible drivers pursue the series title.

Two gaps are easy to misread as missing data. The O’Reilly Series does not race on the August 15 Richmond or August 22 New Hampshire weekends shown on the Cup calendar; its next date after Iowa is August 28 at Daytona. It also has no points race on the September 26 Kansas weekend, creating a break between Bristol and Las Vegas. Those open dates belong in the plan rather than being filled with an assumed event. NASCAR’s national-series PDF shows each series in a separate column, which is why comparing only the Cup row can produce the wrong answer.

How to read the calendar without mixing up series

Most O’Reilly races share a venue weekend with Cup or Truck competition, but the day and network can differ. At Daytona, for example, the O’Reilly finale is Friday evening; the Cup race follows on Saturday. At Bristol, the O’Reilly race is Friday. A search result that says only “NASCAR at Bristol” is not specific enough to plan around. Confirm the series name, date and start time together.

The compact table is deliberately forward-looking. For the full season, including completed events, open the NASCAR schedule. If you are deciding what to watch over the next few days, the this-weekend schedule is the faster view. Fans who organize several events at once can use the NASCAR calendar instead of copying every date manually.

Published start times are planning anchors, not promises that the green flag will fall at that exact minute. Pre-race coverage comes first, and weather, track drying or operational changes can move on-track activity. Recheck NASCAR’s event page and the site’s live schedule during race week, especially before traveling or setting a recording. If a later first-party listing conflicts with this August 19 snapshot, use the newer official listing.

How to watch on The CW and the ESPN App

Every 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race is scheduled on The CW broadcast network. That consistency makes the series easier to follow than the Cup calendar, but “The CW” is not one universal channel number. The local affiliate and channel position depend on your ZIP code and television provider. Use The CW’s station finder, then confirm the listing on race day.

Full race, practice and replay are different products

• Live full race: watch the local CW broadcast. An antenna may receive the affiliate where coverage is available, while live-TV services such as DirecTV Stream, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV may carry it by market and package.
• Live practice and qualifying: NASCAR directs viewers to The CW App. The app also offers selected driver or battle cameras during the race.
• Full replay: NASCAR says the complete broadcast is archived in The CW App the next day. That is not the same as a free live full-race stream.
• ESPN App: since August 4, live CW Sports programming has been available in a CW Sports-branded channel for ESPN Unlimited subscribers.

The ESPN option needs careful wording. ESPN Unlimited is a paid plan, and ESPN’s support page warns that subscribers who activate through a TV provider may not receive content the provider does not carry. Sign in before race time and verify that the CW Sports channel plays on the device you intend to use. Do not assume that a separate ESPN Select or legacy ESPN+ subscription automatically supplies the same access.

A two-minute pre-race check

First, open the NASCAR TV schedule and verify the event, start time and series. Second, check the local CW affiliate or the CW Sports tile in an authenticated ESPN App. Third, keep The CW App available if you want qualifying, an alternate in-car view or the next-day replay. The NASCAR schedule today page is useful when several series share the same track.

This separation prevents the most common viewing mistake: finding a free driver camera and assuming it is the complete race broadcast. It also avoids buying a service before confirming local carriage. Rights, packages and device support can change, so the current provider screen and local station listing outrank an older search snippet.

Results through Iowa: what the latest race changed

Carson Kvapil won the most recent completed O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Iowa Speedway on August 8. NASCAR’s post-race inspection concluded without issue, so the result was confirmed. It was Kvapil’s second consecutive series victory after Indianapolis and the second win of his career.

Iowa result snapshot

The extra ten laps came from two overtime attempts. Kvapil took the lead from Chastain on the first overtime restart, then held it through another restart after an eight-car incident brought out the caution. Caruth used the outside lane to reach second on the final lap, while Sawalich, Chastain and Creed completed the top five. Those details matter because the finishing order alone does not show the late-race sequence.

Nor does the winner’s nine laps led identify the afternoon’s most frequent leader. Justin Allgaier led a race-high 83 laps and won Stage 2, but his tire strategy was disrupted by the succession of cautions and he was later collected in the Lap 252 crash. That is a useful example of why “laps led,” stage performance and finishing position should be read together instead of used as substitutes for one another.

Results, recaps and standings answer different questions

A race-results page is the official order of finish. It tells you where every car placed, how many laps it completed, its status and other scoring fields. A recap explains the sequence—cautions, pit decisions, restarts and passes—that produced that order. Standings then add season points across races. Treating the three as interchangeable can create errors: a driver can finish behind another car in one event yet remain ahead in season points.

For the complete Iowa classification and the next final order after Daytona, use the site’s O’Reilly Series results page. The broader NASCAR results hub is better when you also need Cup, Truck or ARCA outcomes from the same weekend. Always check that the series name and event date match; multiple NASCAR races at one venue can produce several different winners.

This snapshot stops at Iowa. It does not pre-fill Daytona or turn Kvapil’s two-race streak into a prediction. Once the August 28 race passes inspection, that newer official result becomes the correct “latest race,” and the season standings will change with it.

Standings and the 12-driver Chase cut line

The 2026 championship format is simpler than the elimination bracket NASCAR used in recent seasons, but it makes every regular-season point consequential. After Race 24 at Daytona, the top 12 eligible drivers in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series standings qualify for a nine-race Chase. A victory does not automatically put a driver in; the field is determined by points.

The bubble after Iowa

After Race 23 at Iowa, Brent Crews and William Sawalich were tied on points while occupying 11th and 12th, the final two Chase positions. Their Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Taylor Gray was one point below that pair in 13th. Rajah Caruth sat 14th, 15 points behind the tied cutoff. Those are official post-Iowa gaps, not projected Daytona outcomes.

One point can come from more than the final finishing order. NASCAR’s 2026 system awards 55 points for a race win, 35 for second, then 34 for third and one fewer point per position through the relevant scoring range. Stage points remain available as well, with ten for a stage winner, nine for second and so on. A driver can therefore erase or lose a narrow bubble margin before the checkered flag simply through stage performance.

What happens after Daytona?

1. The regular-season driver standings are finalized after official scoring.
2. The top 12 eligible drivers are reseeded once. First starts at 2,100 points, second at 2,075 and third at 2,065; the scale then drops five points per position through 12th at 2,020.
3. All 12 remain in title contention across the nine Chase races. There are no round-by-round eliminations.
4. The eligible driver with the most points after Homestead-Miami is the series champion.

The 25-point advantage for the regular-season champion over the second seed rewards the whole opening phase. At the same time, nine races provide many opportunities for the order to change. This is a cumulative points contest, not a winner-take-all finale.

Which standings table should you use?

NASCAR publishes driver, owner and manufacturer standings on the same official page. They answer different questions. The top-12 Chase field discussed here comes from the driver standings. Owner points follow the car entry, while manufacturer points measure brand competition; neither should be substituted when deciding whether a named driver is above the cut.

Also check the table’s status labels rather than inferring a clinch from a large-looking margin. “Behind” measures a gap to the leader, while the cut-line comparison measures the gap to 12th. They are not the same calculation, and only an official clinched indicator should be treated as final before Daytona.

Use the site’s NASCAR standings hub for the latest table, and compare its “after” race label with the event you just watched. For the rule itself, NASCAR’s Chase 101 explainer is the controlling reference. The Iowa snapshot remains useful for understanding the Daytona stakes, but it becomes historical as soon as Race 24 points are posted.

A practical race-week checklist and quick FAQs

A good O’Reilly Series routine uses different sources at different moments. A season schedule can establish the weekend, but it cannot tell you which drivers actually entered, whether qualifying changed, or when post-race inspection became final. Use this sequence to keep a saved plan current.

1. Early in race week: open the NASCAR weekend schedule and NASCAR’s event hub. Look for the entry list and detailed on-track timetable when they are posted; do not assume a fixed publication day.
2. Before qualifying: verify the practice/qualifying time and app, then check for weather or operational updates. The entry list says who is expected; the starting lineup says who qualified where.
3. Before the race: recheck the NASCAR TV schedule, local CW station and Eastern start time. If using ESPN Unlimited, sign in and test the CW Sports channel first.
4. After the checkered flag: distinguish an unofficial running order from a confirmed result. Use O’Reilly Series results after inspection, then check NASCAR standings for the points effect.

Save the exact event page rather than a generic search-results tab. NASCAR’s race-week hubs fill in links as information becomes available, so the same page can move from entry-list planning to practice data, lineup and final results. That reduces the chance of mixing a February Daytona result with the August return date.

What was the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series called before 2026?

It was the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2015 through 2025. O’Reilly became the title sponsor for 2026; the underlying national championship continued rather than starting over.

What channel carries the 2026 O’Reilly Series?

All 33 races are scheduled on The CW. Local channel numbers vary. ESPN Unlimited subscribers can also find live CW Sports in the ESPN App, while The CW App carries practice, qualifying, alternate cameras and next-day race replays as described earlier.

How many races are in the season?

There are 33. The first 24 form the regular season; the top 12 drivers then contest a nine-race Chase with no eliminations.

What is the next scheduled race?

As of August 19, it is the Daytona regular-season finale on Friday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW. The CW’s current listing also shows Daytona qualifying at 3 p.m. ET, but race-week updates should be checked before relying on that time.

Where should I look when this page and a search result disagree?

Prefer the newest dated first-party listing: NASCAR’s event schedule for timing, Race Center for results, official driver standings for points and The CW’s finder for the local station. Search snippets can preserve an old sponsor name, stale next-race label or pre-change start time.