2026 NASCAR Draft Kit: O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Driver Rankings

Below are RotoWire's driver rankings and outlooks for the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season.

1. Justin Allgaier – No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – The veteran driver extended his streak of Top 5 points finishes with a third-place effort in 2025. Allgaier would grab three victories and 20 Top-10 finishes in order to make the championship battle in the finale. He would come up short in his quest for a second series championship title. However, Allgaier would post "championship-like" performance once again. Now with 28 career victories and over 500 O'Reilly Series starts, this JR Motorsports star is one of the most tenured and successful drivers in this division of NASCAR. Allgaier gets a new crew chief for 2026 in Andrew Overstreet. He replaces Jim Pohlman who returned to the Cup Series for the upcoming season. The change at chief should be of little concern. Allgaier knows what has to be done and how to do it to be a top championship contender.   
2. Jesse Love – No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – Love would capture the 2025 NASCAR O'Reilly Series championship with an incredible second season of racing in this division of NASCAR. The Richard Childress Racing youngster would pick up a pair of victories and a whopping 22 Top-10 finishes last season. Love's four pole positions would really underscore the speed and excellence of the No. 2 team last year. He would win the season finale at Phoenix and hold off the amazing Connor Zilisch to capture the title. For a follow up act, Love should be up to the task. He returns to an unchanged No. 2 RCR team and crew chief, Danny Stockman. Love and Stockman have built some good chemistry over the last two seasons and we expect this driver and team to make a spirited defense of the O'Reilly Series championship in 2026.
3. Austin Hill – No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet – He racked up his third-consecutive season with four victories in 2025. Hill's consistency would drop off just a bit with 18 Top-10 finishes, but his average finish was still sound at 12.6. As per usual, superspeedways were the real strength of this driver and team with three of Hill's four wins coming on the very large and fast ovals. It wouldn't add up to his first championship but would instead only yield a sixth-place finish in the final driver point standings. Hill returns to the RCR No. 21 team in the upcoming season and they'll once again make their goal as the series championship. Hill will have to improve his consistency to make that happen and achieve wins on more diverse tracks. He's capable of both these objectives and possesses underrated road racing skill.    
4. Sam Mayer – No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet – Mayer would collect just one victory last season, but he would greatly improve his consistency in the No. 41 car. The young driver nabbed 18 Top-10 finishes and lowered his average finish for the season to a spotless 11.5 (career-best mark). Hope abounds for even more accomplishments in 2026. The Haas Factory Team switches from Ford to Chevrolet in the upcoming season. Mayer will once again team with crew chief, Jason Trinchere, and the two will look to grab more wins and to become more competitive in the championship quest. Considering that Mayer has demonstrated in recent seasons that he's capable of three-to-four wins and many Top 10's, this should not be a big task. Intermediate ovals and road circuits are his strength, so that will be good to build on.
5. Carson Kvapil/Connor Zilisch – No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – Big developments in this team during the offseason. After a winless first-full season of O'Reilly Series racing in 2025, Kvapil is looking to move things up a notch in 2026. He collected no wins and just 14 Top-10 finishes last year. However, the addition of Rodney Childers at crew chief should be a game changer move. Kvapil will get the vast majority of starts in this car and only give way on occasion to Zilisch on the road/street circuits. This new team effort promises to challenge for race wins on a weekly basis and put Kvapil on the O'Reilly Series map. An all-star lineup of corporate sponsors stand in line ready to help this team to success. It's quite clear by all indicators that JR Motorsports' prime focus has shifted to this team for the upcoming season.
6. Brandon Jones – No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – Jones' return to Joe Gibbs Racing would pay immediate dividends in 2025. The veteran driver would return to victory lane for the first time in three seasons with two victories and 13 Top-10 finishes. While the consistency wasn't the greatest, it was a big improvement over Jones' last season at JR Motorsports. He would finish fifth in the final driver standings of last season and it would mark the best points finish of his 10-season career. Now nearing 350-career starts and seven wins, Jones is one of the more seasoned and experienced drivers in this racing series. This team returns with no changes and completely intact. Jones should continue to win races and hopefully improve his consistency with more Top 10's in the 2026 campaign.
7. Taylor Gray – No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – His first full season of O'Reilly Series competition yielded Gray's first win (Martinsville) and he would stack up an impressive 15 Top-10 finishes in the No. 54 Toyota team. Crew chief Jason Ratcliff and he did some impressive work down the stretch run of last season and built a lot of excitement and anticipation for 2026. Gray will now look to forge his first multi-win season in this division of NASCAR and move his name into the upper tier of championship contending drivers. He showed a lot of versatility and ability on a variety of tracks last season and did some great work on the short tracks. Gray was also no slouch on the road circuits, and raced them well too. All indicators point towards improvement in the upcoming season and at 20-years-old, lots of time to improve.     
8. Sheldon Creed – No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet – The move from Gibbs to Haas last season would be a more bumpy affair than Creed would have liked. He still racked up eight Top 5's and 16 Top 10's despite going winless for the campaign. Now with 136 O'Reilly Series starts to his credit, the time to win is now for Creed. Haas has brought him back for another season in the team's No. 00 car. They switch from Ford to Chevrolet in the upcoming year, so there's buzz and excitement around that development. Short tracks and intermediate ovals were his strength last season and that's a good array of tracks to build on. Jonathan Toney continues at crew chief and duo will look to break into the win column in the upcoming season and improve week-to-week consistency.  
9. Sammy Smith – No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – Smith will return for another season at JRM in the No. 8 Chevrolet. The young driver had arguably his best campaign to-date in the O'Reilly Series in 2025. Smith would grab his third-career victory (Rockingham) and 18 Top-10 finishes en route to a steady eight-place points finish and 14.0 average finish for the season. Those are top marks and ones to build on for Smith and this race team. He'll have to do it with a new crew chief as Phillip Bell is gone and Cory Shea replaces him atop the team's war wagon. The two will look to forge chemistry quickly as the season kicks off in Daytona. The hope is that Smith and this race team can discover the ingredients to their first multi-win season together.
10. Brent Crews – No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – The next driver of focus in Gibbs' driver development program is Crews. The youngster will race most of the full season in the team's No. 19 Toyota. He cannot begin the year due to age (17) but will be able to take the wheel of the team's car after March 30. Crews has won many times in the lower divisions of NASCAR and made a good impression in a 10-start slate in the Craftsman Truck Series last season (three Top 10's). He's a raw talent without a lot of upper division development to this point, but Crews will get a crash course in 2026. He'll be paired with Seth Chavka as crew chief and will race for Rookie of the Year honors. Joe Gibbs Racing equipment will make him competitive right out of the gate, but his inexperience will show at times during this long season to come.
11. Rajah Caruth/Other Drivers – No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – After a one-win, 13 Top-10 campaign in the Craftsman Truck Series, Caruth gets the big promotion to the O'Reilly Series in 2026. He'll take over the No. 88 Chevrolet that Connor Zilisch dominated in last season. However, Caruth is expected to only race part-time in this full-time car. Caruth will make the rest of his starts in a Jordan Anderson Racing car to fill out the full 33-race campaign. A handful of Cup drivers are likely to fill out the remaining races in the No. 88 car. Caruth has shown in the truck series that he can win in good equipment, so positive driving development seems quite likely. This driver and team will be one of the more closely watched teams of the new season.
12. William Sawalich – No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – His first full-time effort in the O'Reilly Series would bear mixed fruit in 2025. Sawalich would rack up nine Top-10 finishes and collect one pole position, but he wouldn't get a sniff of victory lane. The now 19-year-old driver will get another full plate with Joe Gibbs Racing this season again in the No. 18 Toyota. Growth will be expected, more competitive racing will also be expected. Based on Sawalich's success in 2023 and 2024 in the ARCA Menards Series, it's a reasonable expectation. He'll once again be paired with Jeff Meendering at crew chief and the two will look to continue building on what they started last season. Sawalich will need to find victory lane this season and increase his appearances in the Top 10 if he hopes to climb both these rankings and the driver point standings.   
13. Harrison Burton – No. 24 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota – Burton's return to the O'Reilly Series last season was a bit of a mixed bag. AM Racing gave him the best cars they could muster, but it would only amount to 10 Top-10 finishes and a 12th-place ranking in the final driver standings. For 2026, Burton moves to the Sam Hunt Racing team and takes over the No. 24 Toyota. A host of other drivers would field this car in 18 events last season and enjoy some limited success. Burton will bring to this team some stability, experience and ability. He has over 100-career starts in this division of NASCAR with four victories and 59 Top-10 finishes. It's not an opportunity set up for immediate success, but Burton and this capable race team should grow together in the upcoming season.  
14. Patrick Staropoli – No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet – Nick Sanchez is out at Big Machine Racing and in is Staropoli. He takes over the No. 48 Chevrolet for the upcoming season and has some decent sized shoes to fill. Youngster Sanchez drove this car to one win and 12 Top 10's last season, finishing a respectable 11th-place in the final standings. Staropoli is 36-years-old, but in terms of experience he's frankly a "rookie" in seat time. With just nine-combined starts between the Craftsman Truck Series and O'Reilly Series, he has a lot to learn yet about racing in NASCAR's second largest touring series. With a full-slate of racing ahead of him in 2026, Staropoli will be learning on the job. Patrick Donahue will work with him at crew chief and bring his 351 O'Reilly series starts at chief to help lessen the learning curve a bit.  
15. Corey Day – No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – The Hendrick Motorsports No. 17 Chevrolet moves from part-time to full-time competition in the upcoming season. Day made 11 starts with this team last season and earned a modest two Top-10 finishes and 15.9 average finish. This car and team are capable of winning as they did twice last year with both William Byron and Kyle Larson. However, Day is not ready for victory lane just yet. At just 20-years-old and with 24 combined starts between the Craftsman Truck Series and O'Reilly Series, Day is short on seat time. The California native has some obvious talent but it needs to be grown and cultivated before major success is possible. Still, Day's journey with the No. 17 team this season will be intriguing and draw a lot of attention. This team is very capable and if Day is a quick study, he could easily overperform our expectations.
16. Ryan Sieg – No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet – RSS Racing returns for another season in 2026 and the veteran driver Sieg will pilot the team's car for the full schedule. This year the team moves to Chevrolet from Ford so there will be some anticipation of the net gain from that move. Sieg grabbed 10 Top-10 finishes in 2025 and led a career-best 107 laps in the campaign. That's been the trademark of this small, underfunded team. They are competitive despite the odds they face. Sieg now has 400-career O'Reilly Series starts to his credit and the 38-year-old racer is a very smooth and polished driver. Short tracks and large ovals will once again be his sweet spot and definitely weekends to deploy in weekly fantasy racing formats.
17. Jeb Burton – No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet – Jordan Anderson Racing is bringing back Burton for another season in the team's Chevrolet. The journeyman driver had a pretty good campaign for this team in 2025, collecting eight Top-10 finishes and a 14th-place points finish. It was a dramatic improvement over the team's 2024 season performance. Burton is not a big candidate to lead laps nor win races with this small race team, but he does bring consistency and over 200 starts of O'Reilly Series experience to the table. Short tracks and superspeedway ovals seem to be Burton's expertise, and he's not bad on road circuits either. Very competitive. A new technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing should help modestly boost this driver and team's potential in 2026.   
18. Dean Thompson – No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota – The 24-year-old Californian completed his first full season in this division of NASCAR last year. Thompson would impress with eight Top-10 finishes and a reasonably impressive 16th-place finish in the driver point standings. Sam Hunt Racing announced last October that Thompson would be back in the No. 26 Toyota for the upcoming season. That's great news for both this young driver and this race team. Sponsorship seems to be pretty steady and Kris Bowen is still calling the shots from atop the team's war wagon. Partnering with new teammate, Harrison Burton, should be a net benefit to Thompson. The two can share information and the younger driver can learn a lot of Burton's depth of experience. We expect some modest growth in Thompson's performance in the upcoming campaign.
19. Parker Retzlaff – No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet – Retzlaff moves from Alpha Prime Racing to the upstart Viking Motorsports team in the new season. He'll take over the No. 99 Chevrolet and partner with crew chief, Danny Efland. Retzlaff now has over 100 series starts to his credit and has shown some flashes of ability to this point. He collected just three Top-10 finishes with his former race team, but they did have several resource limitations. If some things can come together with this race team, Retzlaff can push into the 8-to-10 Top-10 territory and challenge the mid-teens in the driver standings in 2026. Viking's technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing will be the catalyst for this team to move up the standings.
20. Brennan Poole – No. 44 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet – Now nearing 200 O'Reilly Series starts, Poole is a seasoned veteran driver in this division of NASCAR. He collected five Top-10 and eight Top-15 finishes last season with the No. 44 Chevrolet team. Those were modestly good levels of performance given Alpha Prime's constraints and resources. Frank Kerr did a good job leading Poole and this team. His 500+ starts of experience between the Cup and O'Reilly Series at crew chief brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table. Now starting their third season together, we expect Poole and Kerr to move the performance up a bit. It will be difficult considering the competitiveness of this division of NASCAR but we should see some modest improvement on the 19.4 average finish Poole posted in 2025.
21. Jeremy Clements – No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet – The veteran driver returns with his racing team for another full-time effort in the O'Reilly Series. Clements posted four Top-10 and 10 Top-15 finishes in 2025. That reasonable level of performance and competitiveness brought him a 21st-place finish in the driver standings at the close of last season. A new alliance with the Haas Factory team is hoped to bring a boost in performance and better equipment. Kase Kallenbach should return at crew chief and continue giving good guidance to Clements and the No. 51 Chevrolet team. With now 530 O'Reilly Series starts to his credit, you'll be challenged to find a more experienced driver in this division of NASCAR. Clements is a steady and reliable performer in this lower tier of the driver field.
22. Josh Williams – No. 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet – It was announced in November that Williams would be returning to the DGM Racing team and the No. 92 Chevrolet. The journeyman driver collected just two Top-10 finishes in 30 starts last season for a handful of different teams. He'll look forward to a full slate with this race team and the consistency that should return to his performance. Williams will enjoy support from veteran crew chief, Steve Addington, and his extensive near-350 starts of experience in this division of NASCAR. This smaller, multi-car team is not a juggernaut by any means so we don't expect any breakouts by Williams in 2026. However, they are more than capable of posting more Top 10's and trying to push inside the Top 20 of the driver standings by November. 
23. Anthony Alfredo – No. 96 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet – Alfredo makes the move from Young's Motorsports to Viking and their new second team in 2026. This is a great development for the journeyman driver as it appeared that his career had stalled out at Young's last season. Alfredo collected just one Top-10 and six Top-15 finishes in that No. 42 Chevrolet in 2025. A considerable step back from recent campaigns. Viking's newness makes them a bit of an unknown but we like the hustle in team and personnel assembly we're seeing out of the organization in just their second season. Josh Graham will serve as Alfredo's crew chief and the two will be reunited from their 2024 season together in which they grabbed seven Top 10's at Our Motorsports. Alfredo and this race team have the potential to climb these rankings and break into the Top 20 this season.
24. Blaine Perkins – No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet – Perkins did some reasonably good work in the JAR Chevrolet last season. The young driver would nab four Top 10's and 10 Top 20's in a full-season campaign in the No. 31 Chevrolet in 2025. It was the best performance in Perkins' five-season O'Reilly Series career. He'll look to improve on that as the team welcomes him back to the seat of this Chevrolet. Cody McKenzie will perform the crew chief duties and look to build on what they accomplished as a team last season. A new technical support alliance with Richard Childress Racing could boost this team's and Perkins' performance.   
25. Kyle Sieg – No. 28 RSS Racing Chevrolet – Sieg returns to the seat of the No. 28 car again in 2026 for another run at a full-season effort. The RSS Racing team switches from Ford to Chevrolet for the upcoming campaign, so hope for better results is expected. Also, the team gets a new crew chief, Aedan McHugh, for the new season. He replaces Brad Parrott atop the team's war wagon. Sieg collected just one Top-10 and four Top-15 finishes all of last season. He'll expect to get much better results this season. Down the stretch run of last year, Sieg earned Top 15's at both Talladega and Phoenix, so that's some good momentum to carry into 2026. Week-to-week consistency is really the area this driver and team needs to work on the most.
26. Rajah Caruth/Other Drivers – No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet – This is Jordan Anderson Racing's second car and it will run the full 2026 season with multiple drivers. When Caruth is not racing in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevy, he will make 10 starts for this race team in the upcoming season. At the point of this writing, we don't who else will be driving the car in the other 23 starts. Last season it was a mix of Jordan Anderson, Austin Green and Katherine Legge that made a bulk of this team's schedule. The team managed five Top-10 finishes with that driving conglomerate, so there's some ability to perform here. Caruth gives them a talented, young driver to build a full-season effort around and likely with a good supporting cast of drivers to round it out.
27. Mason Maggio/Other Drivers – No. 91 DGM Racing Chevrolet – This team raced the full 2025 season with Josh Bilicki and a conglomerate of other drivers. Maggio would make just one start for this team late in the season at Talladega with a 22nd-place effort. We expect Maggio's share of the starts to make up the bulk of this team's schedule in the upcoming season and Bilicki will not be involved this year. The rest of the driver rotation could feature names like Myatt Snider, Matt Mills and C.J. McLaughlin. As a team they could only muster seven Top-20 finishes last season. Maggio is young at just 21-years-old and has just 20 O'Reilly Series starts to his credit. This is a resource-challenged team with an inexperienced driver who has a lot yet to learn.
28. Austin Green – No. 87 Peterson Racing Chevrolet – This team made just three attempts last season with Green behind the wheel. Peterson Racing will now move to a full-time schedule in the upcoming season with this same driver. Green would impress with a stunning runner-up finish at the Charlotte ROVAL late last season, but that was the team's biggest highlight. Green would split his time between Jordan Anderson Racing and this car to make 13 total starts last year. He would earn an impressive five Top 10's in that part-time slate, with most of that success coming on the road circuits. Ovals were a complete struggle for this young driver. Green has some fantasy racing appeal on the winding tracks, but he's a driver to be avoided on the series' many ovals.
29. Unknown Drivers – No. 42 Young's Motorsports Chevrolet – Anthony Alfredo would pilot this team full-time last season and to just very limited results. He would earn just one Top-10 and nine Top-20 finishes and wind up 24th-place in the final driver standings. Alfredo moved on to Viking Motorsports at the end of last year and at the time of this writing there's no indication of who will be driving this car in the 2026 campaign. This team has used Leyland Honeyman in the past and could possibly bring him back or chose to divide the schedule up among multiple drivers. It's difficult to say at this point. However, the No. 42 team's level of performance is pretty well set as a team that may fetch one or two Top 10's in a season but most weeks finish in the mid 20's.
30. Unknown Drivers – No. 71 DGM Racing Chevrolet – Ryan Ellis piloted this car in 2025 and earned one Top-10 and seven Top-20 finishes in a full schedule. The team returns for another full season in 2026 but as of this writing has not named a driver or drivers yet. Mario Gosselin owns the team and serves as crew chief as this was the lead car of this stable. What is very likely to happen is that DGM names a driving conglomerate for the upcoming season. The lack of consistency behind the wheel will bring mixed results. The focus of DGM Racing may shift more in the direction of Mason Maggio's team or Josh Williams' team and this one may slip down the performance ladder as a result of that lack of consistency in the driver's seat.
31. Ryan Ellis – No. 02 Young's Motorsports Chevrolet – Ellis moves from DGM Racing and will take over one of the two full-time teams at Young's Motorsports. He'll pilot the No. 02 Chevrolet. There is a full plate of sponsors on this car, so the funding is well-established. However, we don't know at the point of this writing who will serve as crew chief for Ellis. The journeyman driver earned one Top-10 and eight Top-20 finishes with his former DGM team last season. The 24.4 average finish is pretty much in line with the statistics he's posted most of his recent career in the O'Reilly Series. With 164 starts of experience to his credit, which is one thing that helps Ellis. However, the potential of this race team's impact is limited to say the least.
32. Garrett Smithley/Alex Labbe – No. 0 SS-Greenlight Racing Chevrolet – This is the second full-time entry for SS-Greenlight Racing in 2026. Smithley will serve as the "majority" driver on all the series' ovals. Labbe will field the team's No. 0 Chevrolet in the five road racing events. This should produce maximum results for this race team. Smithley has 205 starts of experience in this division of NASCAR and has been a good performer on superspeedway ovals. Canadian Labbe has 163 starts of experience and nearly half of his 13-career Top 10's have come on road circuits, which are by far his best tracks. The two will team with veteran crew chief, Doug Richert, and look to make a competitive showing each week of the upcoming season.     
33. Josh Bilicki – No. 07 SS-Greenlight Racing Chevrolet – The 30-year-old Wisconsin native departed DGM Racing at the end of last season and will move to SS-Green Light Racing for 2026. Bilicki will pilot the team's No. 07 Chevrolet and likely team with crew chief, Paul Clapprood, to take on the full season of racing. Despite 127-career starts in the O'Reilly Series, Bilicki has never raced a full slate. He's come very close a couple times but has mostly been just a part-time driver in the past. He'll look to take on the full 33-race slate in 2026 and see if he can steal a Top-10 or two during the season. The best tracks for that limited success are road circuits and superspeedways, in that order.
34. Lavar Scott – No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet – Alpha Prime has tabbed prospect driver Scott to pilot the team's No. 45 Chevrolet full-time in the upcoming season. The 22-year-old from New Jersey made two starts in this division of NASCAR last season to get some valuable seat time in O'Reilly Series cars. Scott's resume shows that he's a runner-up finisher in the ARCA Menards Series championship battles of the last two seasons. While Scott didn't win any races in his 46 ARCA starts, he did demonstrate rock-solid consistency by gathering 26 Top-5 and 36 Top-10 finishes in those efforts. Scott possesses the raw driving talent that needs to be polished. His first-full season in the O'Reilly Series will be a learning on the job experience.   
35. Unknown Drivers – No. 5 Hettinger Racing Ford – Hettinger Racing's forays into the ARCA Menards Series and Craftsman Truck Series over the past two years will quickly grow into a full-time O'Reilly Series effort in 2026. They have partnered with Roush Yates for engines in their Ford Mustangs and have secured the owner points from Cope Family Racing so they can get a foothold in this division of NASCAR. At the point of this writing, we have no idea who will be the driver or drivers, sponsorship nor crew chief. There are a lot of unknowns as of mid-January and we're just a few weeks away from Daytona. As with most new race teams the first full season is a learning experience with a lot of bumps and bruises to be earned along the way.