RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 2, 2026--
Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP), a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider in North America that serves both professional installers and do-it-yourself customers, today launched Advance Rewards – a new, modernized loyalty program designed to deliver greater value and features that matter to its heavy and light DIY customers. The new program replaces the former Speed Perks program and rolls out today at all Advance locations and online.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260202993976/en/
"Advance Rewards delivers the value that our customers are asking for in a loyalty program,” said Bruce Starnes, executive vice president, chief merchant at Advance Auto Parts. "At the same time, it gives us more tools to engage with them, in part through personalized experiences. We put the customer first in everything we do at Advance, which is why we've added exciting new features that recognize customer engagement while maintaining familiarity embedded in the core structure of the program.”
New Advance Rewards features also include exclusive vendor partnerships that offer members-only deals, bonus points promotions on popular products and sweepstakes opportunities. Members can gain visibility into their rewards and can combine coupons directly in the Advance mobile app and through POS integration in Advance stores.
Reward tiers include:
Loyalty members represent a large portion of Advance Auto Parts' heavy and light DIY business, and by modernizing the program, the company is providing greater value and flexibility to members.
Customers can join Advance Rewards for free at all Advance Auto Parts locations and online at AdvanceAutoParts.com.
Visit www.AdvanceAutoParts.com/AdvanceRewards for more information.
About Advance Auto Parts
Advance Auto Parts, Inc. is a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider that serves both professional installers and do-it-yourself customers. As of October 4, 2025, Advance operated 4,297 stores primarily within the United States, with additional locations in Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Company also served 814 independently owned Carquest branded stores across these locations in addition to Mexico and various Caribbean islands. Additional information about Advance, including employment opportunities, customer services and online shopping for parts, accessories and other offerings can be found at www.AdvanceAutoParts.com.
Advance Rewards maintains a familiar, tiered structure while introducing meaningful improvements and value that make it easier to earn and redeem rewards and provide customers with more ways to save. The loyalty program’s revised three-tier system – 1st Gear, 2nd Gear, and Top Gear – rewards more frequent shoppers with higher rewards rates and provides greater coupon flexibility, including the ability to combine coupons for up to $100 in savings.
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of wintry weather Monday, a forecast sure to disappoint many after what's already been a long, cold season across large parts of the United States.
His annual prediction and announcement that he had seen his shadow was translated by his handlers in the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club at Gobbler’s Knob in western Pennsylvania.
The news was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos from the tens of thousands who braved temperatures in the single-digits Fahrenheit to await the annual prognostication. The extreme cold kept the crowd bundled up and helped keep people on the main stage dancing.
Usually guests can come up on stage and take pictures of Phil after his prediction, but this year the announcer said it was too cold for that and his handlers were afraid to keep him out too long. Instead, the audience was asked to come to the stage, turn around and “do a selfie.”
The club says that when Phil is deemed to have not seen his shadow, that means there will be an early spring. When he does see it, it’s six more weeks of winter. Phil tends to predict a longer winter far more often than an early spring.
The annual ritual goes back more than a century, with ties to ancient farming traditions in Europe. Punxsutawney's festivities have grown considerably since the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray.
Lisa Gibson was at her 10th Groundhog Day, wearing a lighted hat that resembled the tree stump from which Phil emerges shortly after daybreak.
“Oh man, it just breaks up the doldrums of winter,” said Gibson, accompanied by her husband — dressed up as Elvis Presley — and teenage daughter. “It’s like Halloween and New Year’s Eve all wrapped up into one holiday.”
Gibson, a resident of Pittsburgh, had been rooting for Phil to not see his shadow.
Rick Siger, Pennsylvania’s secretary of community and economic development, said the outdoor thermometer in his vehicle read 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius) on his way to Gobbler’s Knob.
“I think it’s just fun — folks having a good time,” said Siger, attending his fourth straight Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney. “It brings people together at a challenging time. It is a unifying force that showcases the best of Pennsylvania, the best of Punxsutawney, this area.”
Last year’s announcement was six more weeks of winter, by far Phil’s more common assessment and not much of a surprise during the first week of February. His top-hatted handlers in the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club insist Phil’s “groundhogese” of winks, purrs, chatters and nods are being interpreted when they relate the meteorological marmot’s muses about the days ahead.
AccuWeather’s chief long-range weather expert, meteorologist Paul Pastelok, said early Monday some clouds moved into Punxsutawney overnight, bringing flurries he called “microflakes.”
Pastelok said the coming week will remain cold, with below-average temperatures in the eastern United States.
Phil isn't the only animal being consulted for long-term weather forecasts Monday. There are formal and informal Groundhog Day events in many places in the U.S., Canada and beyond.
Groundhog Day falls on Feb. 2, the midpoint between the shortest, darkest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s a time of year that also figures in the Celtic calendar and the Christian holiday of Candlemas.
Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, McCormack from Concord, New Hampshire.
Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. Phil's handlers said that the groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
Groundhog Club Vice President Dan McGinley reads the scroll as handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, Phil's handlers said that the groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. Phil's handlers said that the groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
A crowd waits for Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, to come out and make his prediction during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
A crowd gathers while waiting for Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, to come out and make his prediction during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
George Morar, of Youngstown, Ohio., celebrates while waiting for Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, to come out and make his prediction during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
Toni Massey, of Bismack, N.D., right, celebrates while waiting for Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, to come out and make his prediction during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
FILE - Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 137th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Feb. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)
