After 14 years and 423 starts, Ryan Sieg is FINALLY a winner in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
The Tucker, Georgia-native, driving for his family-owned operation, RSS Racing, was able to eliminate the pesky goose egg that had taken up the win column for so long on Friday at Daytona International Speedway, leading the race’s final two laps and holding off advances from Austin Hill to take the checkered flag.
“This is incredible, unbelievable, especially doing it here at Daytona,” Sieg told The CW post-race. “I’ve been coming here since I was a baby; we’ve come here every summer race. To do it right now and the way we did it, that’s amazing, and to get the pole last [time], I just want to thank everyone that helped us out to get here. My mom and dad, my girlfriend, all the support from the whole team, everybody. This has been a long time coming. Last race got the pole and [now] we came back to Daytona where I really wanted to win and we freaking did it.”
This weekend at Daytona, Sieg was piloting the No. 38 Superior Integrity Services Chevrolet Camaro, as part of a strategic number change by RSS Racing to ensure that Andy Jankowiak was able to make his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut in the No. 39. So, Sieg, in his first career win, had neither his primary number nor sponsor.
Something tells me nobody involved with the RSS Racing team is even worried about that, though.
Austin Hill managed to rebound from a mid-race spin to finish runner-up in Friday’s 100-lapper, but in NASCAR Overtime, made a valiant effort to get himself pushed around the No. 38 and into the lead. However, Hill couldn’t get the run to materialize and had to settle for second.
Carson Kvapil led a race-high 50 laps and was looking to collect his third consecutive win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series but lost out to Sieg and Hill in the final moments of the race. Anthony Alfredo finished in fourth, despite being a magnet for incidents on Friday – with both Corey Day and Hill driving across his front bumper to cause incidents throughout the night.
Brandon Jones rounded out the top five. Justin Allgaier was sixth, with Brennan Poole seventh, Harrison Burton eighth, Jeb Burton ninth, and Sheldon Creed rounding out the top-10. Josh Williams, Garrett Smithley, and Leland Honeyman recorded some solid underdog runs, finishing 11th to 13th for DGM Racing and SS-GreenLight Racing.
Daytona International Speedway was not kind to the drivers fighting for the final spots in The Chase for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship. Sam Mayer sustained decent damage in the multi-car incident that ended Stage 1, but the No. 41 was able to stay on the racetrack (and on the lead lap). That incident also caused immense damage to Brent Crews, sending him to the garage for more than 40 laps.
The middle of Stage 2 saw Corey Day spin off the front bumper of Anthony Alfredo and absolutely DESTROY the No. 18 of William Sawalich, ending his afternoon and leaving him to finish 37th.
Near the end of the race, Rajah Caruth, who had finished top-three in the first two stages, was battling for a spot inside the top-five when contact from teammate Justin Allgaier sent him spinning into the Turn 3 SAFER Barrier, costing him a significant points buffer.
In the end, Caruth, Gray, and Mayer were able to lock into The Chase, while Crews and Sawalich will be forced to battle amongst themselves for 13th in points.
The following drivers (in seeding order) will fight for the championship, starting next weekend at Darlington: Justin Allgaier, Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Corey Day, Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Sam Mayer, Taylor Gray, and Rajah Caruth.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series heads to Darlington on Labor Day Weekend for the first of nine events in The Chase for the Championship. Coverage of the event will take place at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday, September 5.
