Over the last few seasons, Ford's presence in the second most important series in NASCAR, the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS), has been negligible. To such an extent that there have been questions about the level of priority shown by the manufacturers.

For Ford, this also tightens up its talent pipeline. Ford drivers from the Truck Series are without a stepping stone in NOAPS. Addressing the NOAPS absence, Ford Racing's Global Director, Mark Rushbrook, recently shared his explanation for the same during an interaction with Bob Pockrass at IMSA's Detroit outing.

"There is the possibility to certainly go straight from Trucks to Cup as some drivers have done before, and we'll see how we go forward with that," Rushbrook said.

When asked if Ford is looking to enter the O'Reilly Series, he replied, "If there's the right program, of course. We're not against the O'Reilly series."

Notably, there have been instances where Truck Series drivers get a direct promotion to the Cup Series, and the most recent example is Corey Heim. The 23-year-old driver signed with 23XI Racing for 2027, straight from his part-time role at Tricon Garage in the Truck Series.

Rushbrook further explained his stance, adding:

"NASCAR is very important for us in total. Cup is very important as the top tier in relevance of racing a Mustang there. The Truck series is very important to us because F-150 is the best-selling truck. That's very important for us. Right now, none of our teams are looking at O'Reilly or are in O'Reilly right now. So it's got to make sense for Ford and for our teams in terms of a place to race."

Notably, Ford has no championship contenders in O'Reilly. They have Nick Sanchez, JJ Yeley, and Luke Fenhaus as the only drivers in the series out of 60 drivers.

All three are part-timers, and their performances have also been dismal, with just one top five and one top 10 in 16 races.

Given how Chevrolet and Toyota have ramped up their sales with the Chevrolet Camaro SS and the Toyota GR Supra, it is understandable why Ford decided to hold onto its Cup and Truck campaigns.

Recent Ford Team's Shut Down Made Future Bleak

Most recently, AM Racing, one of Ford's pioneers in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, completely shut down its operations on May 15, 2026. They released all their drivers, crew, and employees.

The closure came after the team faced months of severe financial strain and unstable funding. The team missed the Rockingham race weekend in March and, since then, had been AFK.

In mid-May, Motorsport.com confirmed that AM Racing had officially ceased operation. With them gone, Nick Sanchez lost a potential full-time drive, and Ford now has barely any presence in the series.

As it seems, their future in the second most important series in NASCAR is bleak while Chevrolet and Toyota take the center stage. Even in the Cup Series, their performance is such that they have just two cars in the top 10 standings after 13 races this season.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yask Kotak