Ryan Sieg, the Texas-sized hero to NASCAR underdogs

FORT WORTH, Texas — Two one-thousandths of a second was all that kept the pride of NASCAR underdogs from achieving a Texas-sized victory for all of them.

After a caution on lap 174 that boosted Parker Kligerman to the lead on old tires with Brandon Jones and Austin Hill behind him on two tires, and trapped favorite Justin Allgaier in unfavorable conditions, Ryan Sieg rose to the occasion.

Sieg was 10th coming to the choose. He sliced through traffic and got to leader Sam Mayer who had sliced through faster than Kligerman, Jones and Hill but couldn’t run away.

Sieg took the lead with 18 laps to go. Another caution fell but Sieg held strong.

The independent driver was on his way to his first Xfinity Series with a few laps to go, holding a one-second lead, when Mayer reeled off quick laps on the bottom while Sieg was on top.

“The car did fall off and I was doing all I could to adjust inside the car with my line. The farther the run went on, it got tight. We restarted but got tighter. That’s why I started moving up. It just took longer for it to get better. It was good in the beginning, okay in the middle and better in the end. I was hoping I could get a big enough gap but he reeled me in within the closing laps,” Sieg said.

On the final lap, Mayer finally got close enough to Sieg for Sieg to respond, choosing the bottom in turn one. The problem for Sieg was Mayer’s car was more versatile than his and Mayer powered around the outside.

Sieg wasn’t done. He dove in on the bottom in turn three, sticking it while Mayer slid. It set up a dream finish of Mayer and Sieg wheel-to-wheel to the line.

Sieg won. If the race had been on a track with a start-finish line just a few feet over. Instead, he left his 342nd attempt at a win empty-handed, just 0.002 seconds behind winner Sam Mayer.

“So close but so far away. It sucks but we ran good. We got more to gain. It’s only Matt and I’s eighth or 10th race. We keep gaining on it and we’ll be with these Chevrolets. Stewart-Haas Racing has been close. We just gotta do a little bit more… agh. It sucks. But we’ll grow,” Sieg said.

“He’s younger. I’m trying to win with all the chances I got left. He’s gonna have a lot more opportunities,” Sieg said.

Sieg is working full-time with crew chief Matt Noyce, whom he ran the final four races with last season. Together, they’re showing why his 11th full-time season is the one where RSS Racing proves they can run with the big dogs of the series.

“It’s definitely a reward to show we can do it, I can do it. We just gotta have the right stuff. We finally have the sponsorships and Ford behind us. Just gotta keep it going,” Sieg said. “That was rewarding watching them get smaller in the mirror but not good when they get closer. It’s a start to more success. It’s going to be a pretty good year with everything we got going.”

Sieg has a little consolation prize for his efforts Saturday.

“It’s disappointing because we’re not in victory lane. But we’re in the Dash4Cash going into Talladega, Dover,” Sieg said.