Another NASCAR team ditches Ford with powerful | Sports News

Ford is as soon as again on the dropping finish of a manufacturer-provider shake-up after RSS Racing, one of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ most established impartial organizations, turned the newest team to stroll away from Ford forward of the 2026 season.

The current resolution follows the Haas Factory Team’s announcement of its own departure, triggering a chain response that ends in Ford having few, if any, full-time entries within the collection. RSS Racing has confirmed that it’ll change to Chevrolet for the 2026 NASCAR season, marking the top of its affiliation with Ford engines and bodywork.

The team will keep racing the No. 38 car pushed by Ryan Sieg and the No. 39 car pushed by Kyle Sieg, each positioned in North Carolina. Last 12 months, the Sieg brothers completed in fifteenth and twenty-fifth place with their aggressive driving kinds. This season, they may team up with a producer that has been a chief within the O’Reilly Series for a few years.

The transfer includes a main technical improve, as each automobiles will use Hendrick engines subsequent season. Chevrolet’s engine program has grow to be one of essentially the most powerful within the sport, with Hendrick Motorsports supplying its own groups and partnered packages, whereas ECR Engines manages the remainder of the Chevrolet lineup.

The alliance between RSS Racing and Haas Factory Team gives Chevrolet with a stronger, unified technical basis. Haas — which additionally struck a technical partnership with Jeremy Clements Racing lately — is shifting from Ford to Chevrolet, too, to work alongside RSS Racing within a coordinated development plan.

The two groups — alongside AM Racing and Joe Gase Motorsports — have been Ford’s solely full-time presence within the O’Reilly Series final season. The producer nonetheless has a sturdy footprint within the Cup Series, with final season’s lineup that includes Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith, Cole Custer, Noah Gragson, and Cody Ware.

The loss of developmental depth within the O’Reilly Series is a vital setback. The pipeline that after included names reminiscent of Sam Mayer, Sheldon Creed, and Harrison Burton, who will now all run by Chevrolet or Toyota as a substitute.

Ford’s O’Reilly roster in 2025 ended with Ryan Sieg ending fifteenth and Kyle Sieg in twenty fifth, with extra entries from Nick Leitz, Kole Raz, Tyler Tomassi, and Burton. The transfer additionally locations strain on Ford’s long-term development construction.

With no confirmed O’Reilly presence on the time of writing, the producer may need to depend on its Cup groups to judge and develop expertise, creating a hole that Chevrolet and Toyota can capitalize on. Fan response was fast, with many questioning whether or not Ford can salvage any of its footprint.

One fan questioned the shortage of a development strategy, writing, “I’m kinda shocked RFK would not field a couple cars just for reps and development of younger employees, and they already have the engine program. Idk seems like a missed opportunity.”

Another fan pointed towards the uncertainty surrounding the Preece and RWR constitution state of affairs and mentioned, “I do not really see them expanding for 2026 as long as the Preece RWR charter stuff is going on, but also, them expanding with Preece in the first place was a surprise, so we will see.”