NASCAR announced ahead of the Xfinity Series Championship race at Phoenix on Saturday that in 2026, 17-year-olds will be able to compete in the newly branded O’Reilly’s Auto Parts Series for the first time.
The age limit is being lowered by one year, from 18 to 17, for road courses and ovals that are 1.25 miles or shorter. Drivers will still need to be at least 18 years old to race at NASCAR’s mile-and-a-half tracks and superspeedways.
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This decision comes after a season in NASCAR’s second series was dominated by Connor Zilisch, a now 19-year-old rookie who entered the series ready to win, having secured a victory in his Watkins Glen debut last year, just two months after turning 18. Zilisch will battle tonight for his first Xfinity Series championship before moving up to the NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse next year.
Along with the news of the lowered age requirements, NASCAR also announced that it is increasing the number of races that drivers in a higher series can compete in the lower series, from five to ten in the O’Reilly series and from five to eight in the Trucks series. Cup drivers are still barred from the championship race in the Craftsman Truck Series, and O’Reilly’s drivers are barred from the Truck championship race.
The five-race limit was originally implemented to prevent Cup drivers from accumulating wins in the lower series.
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This year, four NASNCAR Cup drivers won in the Xfinity Series: Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and William Byron, and Trackhouse’s Daniel Suarez and Shane van Gisbergen.
Van Gisbergen, as a rookie in the Cup series, is technically allowed to race in more lower series races as he has not hit the three-year caveat in this rule set.
In the Truck series, three cup drivers won: Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, and Carson Hoecevar.
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