In Friday night’s Nationwide Series race, Ryan Seig made the most of the restrictor plates being the “the great equalizer” as he pushed Kasey Kahne to victory, scoring a third place finish. It marks Sieg’s best career finish and his second top-10 at Daytona International Speedway.
“It was a win for us, especially finishing third,” Sieg commented. “It’s pretty awesome to come to Daytona and get my career-best finish.”
Sieg said that the final pair of restarts were “crazy”, but he was ready to do whatever it took to help Kahne get up there.
“I never got off his rear bumper, just stayed tucked up right behind him,” Sieg said. “I knew we were in line to get a top 10, top 15 on the last two and it just worked out that we got in the right line and everybody kind of got shuffled around and I just kept pushing the 5 (Kahne) and he got a little clear. Someone pushed me and I just pushed him real hard and got him to the line.”
Looking at the last couple of laps, some wondered if Sieg broke the “no pushing, only bumping” rule that NASCAR has in place. Sieg commented that when it comes to the final laps of the race, “you just do what you gotta do. I did back off a little bit, but I stayed right there. there was a couple times that were iffy but I bump drafted most of the time.”
So far this year, Sieg and RSS Racing have been fighting the hard fight of being one of the underfunded teams competing against the Cup-affiliated team in the Nationwide Series. Without a full-time sponsor, Sieg has been picking up sponsors on a weekly basis to get by and keep racing each week to run the full schedule. With his strong result at Daytona, Seig is hoping to get more sponsors for his No. 39 Chevrolet, possibly a full-time sponsor.
The effort by Sieg and RSS hasn’t gone unnotified by other drivers, either, as points leader Regan Smith commented that “what he’s been doing all year long is he’s been doing a good job.” In the 16 race thus far this year, Sieg has posted five top-15 finishes, including a pair of 13s at Dover and Michigan.
By finishing third, it qualifies Ryan Sieg as one of the “Dash for Cash” drivers and going up against JR Motorsports’ Smith, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Reed and fellow unfunded driver Jeremy Clements, Sieg admits that it’s going to be tough.
“I haven’t run Nationwide at New Hampshire,” he commented. “I’ve run a truck and I did okay. We’re getting better each week and Cowboy is learning more about the cars and I’m learning and getting better so it should be pretty good.”
