Ryan Sieg scores first career win at last in 424th start
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Sieg scores his first career win after his overtime win of the Winn Dixie 250 from Daytona International Speedway.
The wait is over, Sieg has finally won a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race after 424 career starts.
Sieg drove the No. 38 Chevrolet to victory instead of his normal No. 39 ride which Andy Jankowiak ran. The 39-year-old from Tucker, Ga. has come close so many times to winning a race, but now that time has finally come.
The 2026 Chase grid has also been set with some surprises and disappointments.
Rajah Caruth won the pole for the first time in the series. 39 cars entered for 38 spots, and Dawson Cram was the only driver to fail to qualify.
Race Summary
When the green flag dropped, Caruth jumped out front but Sheldon Creed was able to pull along to his outside. Some cars early on started to take it three wide towards the middle of the pack.
On lap three, Caesar Bacarella had a tire go down and had to drop to pit road. No caution came out. By lap five, Austin Hill, who won the season opener at Daytona, took the lead from Caruth. Caruth took it back by lap six, before Creed challenged again with help from his Haas Factory Team teammate Sam Mayer.
Jesse Love and Mayer then would get chances to take the lead. But by lap 15, Love had debris on his grill that he struggled to get off. His Richard Childress Racing teammate Hill was able to get back to the lead again by this point. By lap 18, the front of the field began to run single-file.
A bunch of the JR Motorsports cars then tried to end the train quickly. Carson Kvapil took the lead on lap 20 with help from teammate Sammy Smith. Andy Jankowiak who made his O’Reilly debut for RSS Racing went down a lap.
Due to gauge and temperature issues, Love had to pit as Hill took back the lead. Mayer took it again on lap 24.
The intensity continued to pick up to the end of stage one as multiple drivers swapped for the lead. Dean Thompson lost a lap on lap 27.
A crash then occurred on lap 28 after Jeremy Clements got into the back of Patrick Staropoli in turn three. Mayer also went around in the incident after being clipped by Staropoli, and Brent Crews received a bunch of damage while being one of the Chase bubble drivers. Daniel Dye made hard contact into Staropoli while Josh Williams spun out trying to avoid contact.
Due to new stage caution procedures, Hill won the first stage. Caruth, Sawalich and Gray all received much needed stage points amid the Chase cutline battle. Thompson got the free pass.
Crews went to the garage after the wreck which put his chances of making the Chase in serious jeopardy. During pit stops, a close call occurred between Kvapil and Corey Day. Following the end of the stage, Parker Retzlaff clinched a spot into the Chase while ninth in points.
Stage Two
Stage two began with Kvapil and Hill on the front row. After the earlier problems, Love began to move through the field quickly after the restart. He almost made it back into the top 10.
Another crash happened on lap 45 which involved Smith, Day, Clements, and Sawalich which put another JGR car in trouble of missing the Chase. Day came down into Anthony Alfredo into the tri-oval which caused the incident.
Mayer leaped back above the cutline due to Sawalich falling out. The race restarted with eight to go in stage two. Caruth got to the lead again over Hill thanks to a push from Alfredo.
While battling back for the lead with four to go in stage two, Hill spun out in the tri-oval and dug into the grass after coming down on Alfredo. Hill did not sustain much damage and saved it but the caution came out, ending the stage.
Caruth won the stage, while Jankowiak received the free pass.
After pit stops, Crews returned to the race 31 laps down.
Final Stage
Due to multiple drivers taking a different strategy, Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones restarted on the front row. Burton however lost multiple spots after falling into the middle in turns three and four. Ryan Sieg then challenged Jones for the lead while the JRM cars surged back towards the front. Kvapil shortly after got the lead back from Jones.
On lap 69, Caruth and others got impatient with Blaine Perkins who also played strategy and made a risky move going to the middle.
On lap 72, Crews came back to pit road for more repairs while Creed got aggressive going for the lead on Kvapil. A big underdog that joined that picture was Leland Honeyman Jr. driving for DGM Racing who ran in fifth with 25 to go.
A few of the RCR affiliated cars started to try making another line to break up the train at the front.
Not much worked as the field continued to train around with the closing laps approaching them.
With ten to go, Jankowiak developed a tire rub after contact with Thompson while both got lapped. He also got into the wall in turn one. With eight to go, more cars tried to make a second line work.
With three to go, Caruth tried getting a push from Allgaier to get by Kvapil but it didn’t work. Caruth spun off of Allgaier going into turn three and made contact into the inside wall.
The race went into overtime as Kvapil kept the lead until Ryan Sieg took it from him and held on to win his first career race in his 424th start. A crash happened in the back of the field where Josh Bilicki took a hard hit at the exit of turn four.
Caruth, Gray and Mayer all made it into the Chase while Sawalich and Crews did not.
Post Race Comments
On the frontstretch before his interview, Ryan’s younger brother Kyle who finished 21st came over to congratulate him.
In his interview with the CW, Ryan said, “this is incredible, unbelievable, especially doing it here at Daytona I’ve been coming here since I was a baby. We’ve come here every summer race and to do it in the way we did it that’s amazing.”
Ryan also thanked everyone who helped with the effort and exclaimed, “we freaking did it.”
Notable Results
Anthony Alfredo may have had a few drivers clear themselves on him today, but he still finished a strong fourth at Daytona. Alfredo has now finished in the top five, three times in the last six races.
Brennan Poole scored his best finish of the season in the No. 44 for Alpha Prime Racing with a seventh place run. It’s his best finish since Rockingham last year.
Harrison Burton also got his best finish of 2026 in eighth place. Momentum could be building for him and the No. 24 team in these last nine races.
Race Results
- 38 Ryan Sieg
- 21 Austin Hill
- 1 Carson Kvapil
- 96 Anthony Alfredo
- 20 Brandon Jones
- 7 Justin Allgaier
- 44 Brennan Poole
- 24 Harrison Burton
- 27 Jeb Burton
- 00 Sheldon Creed
- 92 Josh Williams
- 0 Garrett Smithley
- 71 Leland Honeyman
- 99 Parker Retzlaff
- 31 Blaine Perkins
- 87 Nick Sanchez
- 02 Ryan Ellis
- 45 Lavar Scott
- 91 Mason Maggio
- 2 Jesse Love
- 28 Kyle Sieg
- 42 Natalie Decker
- 55 Joey Gase
- 53 Carson Ware
- 41 Sam Mayer
- 54 Taylor Gray
- 26 Dean Thompson
- 07 Josh Bilicki OUT
- 17 Corey Day -1 Lap
- 39 Andy Jankowiak -2 Laps
- 4 Caesar Bacarella -2 Laps
- 88 Rajah Caruth -2 Laps
- 51 Jeremy Clements -11 Laps
- 48 Patrick Staropoli -32 Laps
- 19 Brent Crews -44 Laps
- 8 Sammy Smith OUT
- 18 William Sawalich OUT
- 32 Daniel Dye OUT
Chase Grid
- 7 Justin Allgaier
- 1 Carson Kvapil
- 00 Sheldon Creed
- 2 Jesse Love
- 21 Austin Hill
- 20 Brandon Jones
- 17 Corey Day
- 8 Sammy Smith
- 99 Parker Retzlaff
- 41 Sam Mayer
- 54 Taylor Gray
- 88 Rajah Caruth
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will return at Darlington Raceway for the Fleetio 200 on Saturday, Sept. 5.
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