The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this month ended a 1,116-race streak of Ford competing with at least one entry in the series. A race without any Fords had not taken place since the October 1991 season finale at Martinsville Speedway.
There were once again no Fords on the entry list this past weekend at Watkins Glen International, and that is again the case this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway. There are seven Toyotas and 31 Chevrolets.
Ford's ongoing absence from NASCAR's second highest national level is not particularly surprising, given how things were trending to start the year, and it's no shock that there is no timetable for a return.
Ford remains out of NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series
AM Racing and Hettinger Racing entered the year as the series' only two full-time Ford teams, following Haas Factory Team's switch to Chevrolet. RSS Racing, given the technical alliance between the two organizations, followed suit.
AM Racing fielded the only Ford entry for a full-time driver, that being Nick Sanchez after he unexpectedly lost his ride with Big Machine Racing following the 2025 season. In addition to Sanchez's No. 25 Ford, they also fielded the No. 52 Ford on three occasions for Daniel Dye.
But the team withdrew the No. 25 car from the entry list at Rockingham Speedway in early April, and they haven't been back since. Sanchez's top finish of the year, through seven races, was a third place effort at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway).
Their withdrawal made Hettinger Racing the only remaining Ford team, and their national series experience heading into the 2026 season included just three Craftsman Truck Series starts in 2024 and 2025.
They managed to field the No. 5 Ford in each of the season's first 11 races, and for five different drivers. J.J. Yeley made four starts, while Luke Fenhaus, Chandler Smith and Luke Baldwin each made two. Tyler Gonzalez attempted but failed to qualify for the early March race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Following Yeley's season-best 11th place finish at Talladega Superspeedway in late April, however, they have not been back.
It felt eerily similar to the fate of Chevrolet's Barrett-Cope Racing, which also entered the year with no prior O'Reilly Series experience. Their surprising, yet somewhat predictable, departure happened just a few weeks prior.
They fielded the No. 30 Chevrolet for each of the season's first seven races, successfully qualifying for six. Five drivers spent time behind the wheel, but ever since the late March race at Martinsville Speedway, the organization hasn't been back, and there is also no timetable for a return.
Chevrolet, of course, still makes up the overwhelming majority of the field, a field Ford is no longer a part of.
The CW Network's live coverage of the BetRivers 200 from Dover Motor Speedway is scheduled to begin this Saturday, May 16 at 4:00 p.m. ET. If you have not yet had the chance to do so, begin a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the O'Reilly Series action from the "Monster Mile"!
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