NASCAR president confirms series could make huge change affecting Cup stars

NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell has revealed that the stock car racing series is considering a huge change that would impact some of the biggest names in the sport.

From time to time, Cup Series drivers will race in other national NASCAR categories such as the Xfinity Series – soon to be sponsored by O’Reilly Auto Parts – or the Truck Series.

At present, there is a limit on how many times a Cup Series driver can do this, with a driver only allowed to race in five alternate races a season, prior to the regular season finale and the playoffs.

This was a rule tightened up to that level in 2019, with drivers such as Kyle Busch having driven a heap of races across all three series each season previously.

Cup drivers competing in the developmental series has always been a contentious topic. On the one hand, some argue against it as it potentially leads to a mismatch in terms of competition, while others argue that it helps raise the standard and develop the young drivers competing in those categories.

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'Kyle Busch rule' set to be scrapped?

Now, speaking as part of the announcement that O’Reilly Auto Parts will become an official sponsor of NASCAR's secondary series in 2026, president O’Donnell has suggested that the series is considering a shakeup when it comes to Cup drivers racing in Xfinity more.

“We’re going to look at who is able to race in the series in the future as well and maybe make some changes down the road,” O’Donnell said.

“But there’s a lot of opportunities for us to work with The CW and O’Reilly Auto Parts to take it to the next level, so you’re operating from a really good base, which is awesome, but I think we’ve got a lot of growth ahead of us."

O'Donnell added: "You look at all of our series and we’ve had limits on, ‘Could a Cup driver compete?’ ‘How many races could they compete in?’

“So we’ve certainly had discussions with The CW and in the Truck Series as well (about), ‘Does that rule as it stands now make the most sense to continue as it is? Do we tweak it?’

"So we’re looking at a lot of things over the offseason and talking to a lot of the teams and drivers."

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