DVR not recording all shows in a series

sporting events are not consider to be part of a series and therefore must be record it individually

That's funny I set my DVR to record the Sprint Cup and Nationwide race and it automatically records every thing Nascar related. Practice, qualifying, and the Craftsmen truck race are all recorded without me setting them. So my DVR or DirecTV programming must think they are a series. My problem is it records everything else EXCEPT what I actually want to record. Any solutions?

If you are recording "every thing Nascar related" then you don't have a standard series setup.  You've searched the keyword "NASCAR" or some such, and activated "autorecord".  The series setups use coding contained in the guide data to identify a particular program as part of a series, the program "House" for example, and it always records on the same channel..  The autorecord system looks for key words in labels or descriptions and will jump all over and record off the wall as well as desired programs, but the series coding is not used with autorecord.

A repeat.  Sporting events are considered individual events, and this includes races, ball games, golf etc. so you need to set those up individually.  Or, hope that your "keyword/autorecord" will find them, but I wouldn't count on that.

I am not aware of the search feature with my equipment. All I did was browse to the listing for the race, hit select and then rec. series. I selected both for episode type, keep 5, keep until disk is full, record on-time and stop 1-1/2 hours later. Then I pressed record series.

Where do I find this keyword auto record?

Menu -> search -> type in NASCAR -> see last response -> select -> autorecord.

If you are getting that huge variety of programming from a single series setup as you describe then it's beyond my experience to understand why.

I'd suggest you do a bit of experimenting using maybe a different sport, like golf, or shooting.  Some of those programs are a part of a series, (like Golf Digest Weekly or The American Rifleman) but the matches themselves are individual and the series setups miss them.  I think that fact is at the heart of your problem.  You're getting the background and news programs, but not the races.

I have had this DVR for years and never used that feature. I record two ways, first the way I mentioned in my last post and via the online webpage. I have deleted all recording, and scheduled ones and started over once again. I don't really feel like experimenting, I just want it to work. There has to be some sort of software/hardware issue judging from all the similar problems.Would a double reset help here?

Doubtful.  It will force the DVR to rebuild its Guide Data.  Won't hurt anything to try.