The Haas Factory team may not be the only NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series team leaving Ford ahead of the 2026 season, as a reporter claims that RSS Racing could also be headed to Chevrolet.
In September, the Haas Factory Team announced its departure from Ford, with their two NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series entries and one NASCAR Cup Series entry set to join Chevrolet in 2026. This move left a vacuum for Ford in the NASCAR OAPS, with just three Ford teams left.
Now, it appears that this number will be reduced to two, as Chris Knight of Catchfence claimed in a post on X that RSS Racing is likely to make the switch as well.
Knight claims that this move will ally the family-owned team with the Haas Factory Team. The two-car team has entered all three OEMs in its history in the series, but RSS has not entered a Chevrolet full-time since 2020.
If RSS does switch to Chevrolet, the Haas alliance would expand to five cars. On Monday morning, long-time Chevrolet team Jeremy Clements Racing also announced its new technical alliance with HFT, bringing the total count to three.
Furthermore, in the event the team switches OEMs, Joey Gase Motorsports and AM Racing will be the two remaining Ford teams in the NASCAR OAPS.
Whether or not Ford will fill the gap left by these teams is unknown. As of press time, no OAPS teams have indicated that they are switching to Ford, with only 89 days left until the series season opener at Daytona.
This is a tough spot for Ford, as a defection from RSS would mean the team is losing two of its three most recent winning organizations.
Since Team Penske closed its storied OAPS operation at the end of 2021, the OEM has scored only 11 wins, one with HFT, one with RSS, and 10 with the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing.
What’s Happening? The 2026 NASCAR Season is fast approaching, and teams are setting their lineups for the coming season. This article…
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