Rockingham leaves Ryan Sieg short again of first Xfinity win

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — 0-for-376 for Ryan Sieg in the NASCAR Xfinity Series turned to 0-for-377 on Saturday at Rockingham Speedway.

Sieg led a career-high — and race-high — 77 of 256 laps in the North Carolina Education Lottery 250. He even picked up eight stage points and a bonus point for running the fastest lap.

However, he failed to get his first Xfinity Series win, even after leading with 11 laps to go in the scheduled 250-lap distance.

Sieg started 12th but made his way into the top-10. When the caution flew for Katherine Legge, Kasey Kahne and William Sawalich wrecking with less than 10 laps to go in the 60-lap first stage, Sieg stayed out. Ultimately, he restarted third and finished the stage there.

Sieg showed some pace in stage two, getting back on sequence ahead of the final stage. Then in the final stage, four quick cautions put him off sequence but back up front.

During the third caution, Sieg pitted to pack in as much fuel as possible, setting him up to take the lead when everyone else pitted during the fourth caution. Estimates put Sieg at about 10 laps short on fuel — but they had a 376-race winless streak to break, so they went all in on the gamble.

Sieg played several good hands, getting good restarts against Love and defending well. He was also dealt several great cards, including a couple of well-timed cautions.

Then, his luck ran out as the fuel did on lap 239. He was going to lead the field to the choose zone until he stumbled off of turn four. He dropped to the middle of the pack where a wreck held him back to an 18th-place finish. 

Sieg sits ninth in points, 37 points ahead of the playoff cutline. He’s only 10 points back of fourth-place Jesse Love — setting up a tight points battle for the rest of the regular season.

Next: Talladega Superspeedway, 4 p.m. ET (CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)