In the few months since O’Reilly Auto Parts became the entitlement sponsor for NASCAR’s second-tier national series, the bright green-and-black pattern used in most branding and marketing materials has already become identifiable. The color combination differs from NASCAR’s other corporate partners, helping O’Reilly assert itself as the new primary sponsor for a series that routinely draws one million-plus television viewers for its races.Missing, though, is the color red, one of NASCAR’s signature colors and one it wants as part of its logo as much as possible. But this was not an oversight. It’s a way for NASCAR to both help O’Reilly further distinguish itself and also not create confusion with another entitlement partner, Craftsman, the sponsor of the third-tier Truck Series since 2023, which has red as one of its primary colors and the color of the banners across the front windshield in that series. (The premier Cup Series banner is blackish-gray.)This is why some of O’Reilly’s branding features little or no red — a stark contrast to its commercial storefronts, where red is the featured color.“O’Reilly pushed pretty hard, and I don’t blame them for that as red is kind of their thing,” said Meghan Miley, NASCAR racing operations director. “But it really just came back down to the fact that the color we do use as an identifier is used so much in the series and different things. And with O’Reilly, they understood that Craftsman is the red, and we’re going to move forward with green.”A new entitlement sponsor means updating over a thousand different items related to NASCAR’s new partner. These rebranding touchpoints are kept on a list Miley and others within NASCAR refer to as “The Bible.” There are the big elements that the general public sees, like signage and grass stenciling at tracks, victory lane and banners on cars. Then there are also behind-the-scenes items — internal reports, ID badges, entry lists, wording within the rulebook and so forth. Even now, months later, NASCAR employees will still encounter occasional typos when it comes to branding and other materials related to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.All the associated costs involved with the updating, such as rewrapping a hauler — which runs $25,000 apiece — or buying new uniforms, fall on NASCAR.“When you look at redoing everything, yeah, it’s a big number,” Miley said.Among the to-do list items: re-wrapping all the series-branded haulers. Each one costs about $25,000 to re-do the paint. (Jordan Bianchi / The Athletic)Shifting all identifiers from Xfinity to O’Reilly began well before NASCAR had announced publicly late last summer that the Missouri-based company had signed a multi-year deal to become the new entitlement sponsor. Beyond the color palette, a host of other decisions needed to be made on other pressing issues. And with the change going into effect Jan. 1, the clock was ticking to have everything prepared.The to-do list included the precise verbiage to use when referring to O’Reilly: Do you say the whole name, though it’s lengthy, or was there an acceptable shorthand version? Understandably, O’Reilly executives had strong thoughts on this. After years spent focusing its advertising primarily on radio, this represented a largely new endeavor.“Obviously, O’Reilly Auto Parts can be a little bit of a mouthful compared to some of our competitors,” said Hugo Sanchez, O’Reilly’s vice president of marketing and advertising. “We wanted to make sure that our brand recognition stood out. Our radio jingle, it’s got a catchy ring to it so people know the jingle. They can hear it in their head. … We get a lot of flak sometimes because people call us ‘O’Reilly’ or they don’t say (the full name), so we wanted to make sure that from the drivers all the way through the CW Network to everybody was saying consistently the ‘O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ name.”On NASCAR-specific items that didn’t necessitate input from O’Reilly, the league worked separately. On anything involving front-facing branding, O’Reilly was included in every step. Part of this included NASCAR arranging a de facto summit last fall at its offices in Concord, N.C., with attendees from NASCAR, O’Reilly, the CW Network, the series’ exclusive broadcast partner, along with drivers and leadership from nearly every team. The purpose was to create buy-in across the board.Cars, uniforms, trophy podiums — the updated branding is all over the track. NASCAR has a “Bible” to keep track of all the things that need changing. (Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images)Fostering a relationship between O’Reilly and CW was of particular importance, stressed Brian Herbst, NASCAR senior vice president and chief media and revenue officer. Each entity needs the other to make this work: O’Reilly in getting exposure on a national, over-the-air broadcaster beyond mandatory mentions as part of its contract with NASCAR; and for CW, the benefits of the auto parts company committing to certain ad buys that help offset the cost of televising races. The two sides reached a deal that includes O’Reilly becoming the presenting sponsor for the network’s pre-race show and a significant presence throughout the telecast.“It was really important for us to keep them consistent through every part of the race experience,” said Laura Lamattina, CW’s senior vice president of marketing solutions and brand partnerships. “We took the sponsorship into the race to give them another meaningful position.“On average, they’re getting 20 to 25 minutes of exposure throughout a race day with us. It was important for them to really show up in a big way and to be more than just one of our partners, but to be the partner who is helping bring this series to life.”Months into O’Reilly stepping into the role of entitlement sponsor, all sides speak glowingly about the partnership. Television ratings have surpassed 1 million total viewers (pre-rain delay) for 19 consecutive weeks, with the most recent race at Sonoma having an 18-percent increase from the previous year. Overall, ratings are up over 7.5 percent from a year ago.One issue still does occasionally surface. O’Reilly’s predecessor, Xfinity, served as entitlement sponsor for 11 years, a stretch during which the telecommunications company became indelibly linked with NASCAR’s second-tier series.Longtime connections can be tough to break, leading to moments where everyone from drivers to the media or even those who work for NASCAR still will occasionally say “Xfinity” when they mean to say “O’Reilly.”“There’s been a few times like when I’m just randomly talking to somebody and I’ll say ‘Xfinity,'” explained driver Austin Hill, “and then there’s also times that I’ll say ‘O’Reilly’ and somebody (doesn’t) know what I’m talking about, so I have to explain it to them. So yeah, it is a little odd, but I’ve gotten decent with it over the year.”Earlier this year, a reminder was placed inside the CW broadcast booth, and even now, announcers still have to remind themselves of the proper name. What has helped, though, are the branding efforts that are unmistakable wherever you look.“Obviously, all the signage helps,” said CW pit reporter Kim Coon, who notes she has yet to slip up on the air. “O’Reilly has been part of NASCAR for a very, very long time, so it’s not like a brand-new sponsor out of the blue that we were not familiar with. I think that made the transition a lot easier. Then there is signage everywhere — the drivers have patches on their fire suits. So all the little things add up to make it a lot more seamless of a transition.”But occasionally there are slip-ups, even by those whose job it is to make sure no one else does the same.“We all had our buckets for the first few months of the transition, the dollar bucket that you throw in the dollar when you say it wrong,” Miley said, laughing.