By virtue of their third and eighth place finishes at Daytona International Speedway, both Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements will join Regan Smith and Ryan Reed as part of the four drivers eligible for the Dash for Cash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.
Per the ‘Dash for Cash’ rules, “The highest finisher of the four eligible drivers at New Hampshire will win the money and automatically qualify for the Dash 4 Cash at Chicagoland the following weekend. The three highest finishing NNS regulars at New Hampshire not already qualified will also get to compete for the $100,000 bonus at Chicagoland. The final two events at Indianapolis and Iowa will carry the same qualifying requirements.”
While the bonus and bragging rights would mean a lot for JR Motorsports (Smith) and Roush-Fenway Racing (Reed), it’d mean even more to Sieg and Clements for the simple fact that they’re racing with under-funded, small teams where the money could help them make it to the next race with the lack of sponsorship that they deal with throughout the year.
Post-race at Daytona, Sieg admitted that it’s going to be tough to claim the bonus.
“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.”
Sieg is right about RSS Racing getting better as Sieg has posted six top-15 finishes this year, including a pair of top 10s at Daytona. For an unfunded team going up against Sprint Cup-backed organizations, top-15s are a much celebrated result.
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.”
For Clements, he has also had some good runs that have impressed fellow drivers and fans, including a sixth place at Road America. With a couple of top 15 finishes to go with the pair of top-10s, Clements finds himself up to the 15th spot in points for his family-backed team.
With positive results on his side, Clements is hoping that the positive mojo stays with the 51 team.
“I believe in momentum. It was a big morale boost for everyone but,” he explained last month to SpeedwayMedia’s Angela Campbell, “the next track we go to is very different. We’re always aiming for top-ten finishes so every week we keep plugging away.”
