“We’ve had a lot of speed. We just haven’t had great luck.” This is what Anthony Alfredo said ten races into the 2025 Xfinity Series season. Indeed, driving the No. 42 Young’s Motorsports did not yield more than a single top ten for the experienced NASCAR driver. He encountered 8 DNFs and finished 24th in points. Yet that is hardly enough of a reason for the team to fold, as it is putting its foot down for a new season.

From 2026 onwards, NASCAR’s second tier of racing will be rebranded as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Along with this rebranded image, a slew of novel developments are on the table. One of them concerns Young’s Motorsports’ newest recruit – Ryan Ellis – who wields good prospects for the future.

A NASCAR team is growing wings

Despite a forgettable 2025 season, Young’s Motorsports is gearing up for 2026. Tyler Young, the 35-year-old owner of the team, highlighted how the O’Reilly Auto Parts expansion is exciting. Although mainly known for their Trucks team since 2012, the team is heading into its third year of racing in NASCAR’s second tier. Young said, “It’s been truck racing for over 10 years full-time. So to have come over in the O’Reilly series now…It’s a really cool moment for me and my family to keep that kind of going.”

Ryan Ellis, who has made a total of 164 starts throughout his career, will pilot Young’s No. 02 Chevrolet. Last May at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Ellis scored a breakthrough top-10 result with an eighth-place finish for DGM Racing. So Young is excited to have Ellis on board: “I think just his ability and how good he’s done here of late. I’m excited to get going. I think he’s gonna do a really good job. I think it’s gonna add a program overall, having two cars that will really step up for everyone involved.” 

Joining Ellis in his new NASCAR venture with Young’s Motorsports is partner Tablo TV. It will serve as an 11-race primary sponsor of the entry during both the 2026 and 2027 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series campaigns. Several other sponsorship partners will follow suit, including Sweetwater Construction, which will serve as a four-race primary sponsor. New partner Demco Products joins the team for a three-race deal. Four Loko, Eclipse Claims, ROSCH, and additional partners are yet to be confirmed as part of the program.

Already, Tyler Young feels optimistic about the chemistry with Ryan Ellis and his new partners. “Yeah. I think there’s just a lot of things you can bounce off each other. Ideas, and I think just notebooks, going back and being able to lean on each other. If one is struggling the one is not be able to help another one out. So that’s gonna be a big part of it.” 

While we wait to see what the future holds for Young’s Motorsports, NASCAR’s second tier’s preparations are already underway.

Making room for new times

In mid-August, NASCAR and O’Reilly Auto Parts announced a multiyear partnership. The end of 2025 marked the end of a dynamic 11-year tenure with Xfinity that elevated the series to new heights with unprecedented fan engagement, innovation, and exposure. But just like Nationwide Insurance and Anheuser-Busch had gracefully bid adieu to their bonds with NASCAR, Xfinity also strove to do the same. The transition from Xfinity to O’Reilly is seemingly going well, as the internet provider handed over the torch as the entitlement sponsor.

Journalist Adam Stern reported, “Executives from Xfinity have met with counterparts from O’Reilly Auto Parts in recent weeks to open their playbook to the new title sponsor of NASCAR’s second-tier series. That’s according to Matt Lederer, Comcast’s VP/Branded Partnerships, who got the same treatment 11 years ago from Nationwide VP/Sports Marketing Jim McCoy when the Philadelphia-based telecommunications services brand was replacing the Columbus-based insurance company.”

With the coming of the new year, we should expect a bunch of new developments in NASCAR. Let’s wait and see how it all unfolds.