After ten years of competition in the NASCAR ecosystem, AM Racing announced that it will officially cease operations, a move that has left drivers Nick Sanchez and Daniel Dye without a ride for the upcoming season.
The team was founded by Tim Self in December 2015 and entered the Truck Series in 2016 before stepping up to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2023, where Harrison Burton secured the organization’s first playoff berth that year.
The Collapsed Acquisition
In November 2025, AM Racing reached an agreement to be acquired by Sigma Performance Services, but the transaction collapsed in January 2026, sealing the team’s fate.
The financial strain of running a mid‑tier NASCAR program has become increasingly apparent; each race in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series can cost between $130,000 and $160,000, while the purse for a Cup Series event at Darlington tops $11 million, compared with just $1.65 million for the same track’s lower series.
Sponsorship deals, media revenue sharing and standardized operating teams give Cup teams a financial edge that mid‑tier outfits struggle to match, and the high cost of modern equipment compounds the difficulty.
The shutdown also reverberates for Ford, which now finds itself without an independent mid‑tier presence in the series, leaving Hettinger Racing as the sole Ford‑branded team before it too fell silent after 11 events.
Industry observers note that only teams with strong backing or a long institutional history can weather the volatility of NASCAR’s financial landscape, a reality that has reshaped the competitive map of the sport.