NASCAR Clears the Air on Major Overhaul of O’Reilly Series
What’s Happening? Following backlash over an interview with a NASCAR executive, officials within the sport have stepped up to clarify confusion…
NASCAR Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen revealed during a recent podcast appearance that he felt he should have gone straight to the NASCAR Cup Series instead of taking a year to race in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Shane van Gisbergen has had no trouble finding victory lane during his NASCAR Cup Series career.
Of course, in his first-ever race, the former Supercars Champion took home the win in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Circuit.
While he did not score a win during his second part-time season in 2024, SVG quickly turned a corner in his first full-time Cup Series season, winning all but one of the season’s six road and street course races in 2025.
Even then, he is far from a one-trick pony, winning road course races in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in each season he has started a race in the series.
While the OAP Series provided van Gisbergen with an introduction to full-time NASCAR racing, the 37-year-old revealed during a recent interview on The Dale Jr Download that he felt it would have been more worthwhile to race full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series from the start, given the difference in the cars used by the two series.
“I hate to say I wasted a year, there’s a better way to word it, but doing that learning year in Xfinity [O’Reilly] was not really… It was good to see the lay of the land, learn the tracks and the country, the way it worked, but I almost should have been thrown in the deep end in Cup and learn that car.” — Shane van Gisbergen
Though this may come as a surprise to many, it’s no secret that there is a drastic difference between the older, more traditional car used in the OAP Series and the NASCAR Next Gen car, which debuted in 2022.
For one, SVG’s co-guest for this episode, his Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch, agrees with this take.
Zilisch dominated the NASCAR OAP Series last season, winning ten races en route to falling short of a Championship in his Rookie season.
His transition to the NASCAR Cup Series has not been easy, with the 19-year-old sitting near the tail end of points. Zilisch’s poor start to 2026 has led some to say he was called up too early, something Zilisch says is a moot point, as the OAP Series contributes little to success at the Cup Series level.
“People always tag me in social media posts, and they’re like, ‘Oh, he needs to go back and do another year of O’Reilly,'” Zilisch said. “And I’m like. . . You learn nothing. It’s so different.”
The 2025 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Rookie of the Year (and de facto 2026 Cup Series Rookie of the Year) then used an example of driving through a corner at a race track to describe one of the major differences in what drivers need to learn about each car.
“In Xfinity, you drive it into the corner with the guy in front of you and try and get as close to their left rear as you can,” Zilisch said. “And in Cup, you’re lifting at the flag stand to give yourself air on entry, so that way you can get a run off the corner and get a run and go three wide bottom, whatever it is.”
Adding to his opinion on SVG’s take, Zilisch said that while he still races in the OAP Series for “fun,” he has to enter Sunday’s race with a refreshed mindset given these differences.
“I run the Xfinity races or the O’Reilly races to have fun and enjoy it, but it’s almost like I have to just clear my mind before I go into that race; everything I learn on Sundays is opposite,” Zilisch said.
Since the introduction of the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen car in 2022, there has been no shortage of talk that the car, or at least its base format, could be used in the sport’s lower two National Series.
While rumors continue to swirl about an impending “Next Gen” NASCAR Truck, fans take issue with talks of changing the NASCAR OAP Series car much more personally.
For one, the car is the closest thing the sport has to a classic “NASCAR” stock car with traditional lug nuts and overall design.
As of press time, NASCAR has not confirmed any plans to replace the OAP Series car anytime soon, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t discussions behind the scenes about the future of the series.
Earlier this season, the mere mention that the sport had discussed changing the series into a crossover or CUV Series built on the Next Gen platform led to a major uproar from fans.
What’s Happening? Following backlash over an interview with a NASCAR executive, officials within the sport have stepped up to clarify confusion…
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