Competing in his ninth full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Ryan Sieg is within reach of a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Playoff event at Martinsville Speedway, Sieg will fulfill 300 career starts in the Xfinity circuit.
A native of Tucker, Georgia, Sieg, who spent the years 2010 through 2012 as a full-time Camping World Truck Series competitor for his family-operated RSS Racing, made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series at Phoenix Raceway in March 2013, where he substituted for the suspended Jeremy Clements in the No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Starting 35th, Sieg finished 21st in his series debut. He returned for the following weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he finished 18th, before Clements was reinstated by NASCAR. Sieg, however, ended up competing in two additional Xfinity events for RSS Racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July and at Kansas Speedway in October, where he finished 24th and 21st, respectively.
Sieg initially commenced the 2014 season with plans on competing the entire Truck Series schedule and part time in the Xfinity Series. Following the first five scheduled events, however, Sieg shifted his focus towards running the entire Xfinity schedule. By then, he had achieved a ninth-place result in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway in February.
His other highlight of the 2014 season was by achieving a strong third-place result at Daytona in July after drafting veteran Kasey Kahne to a photo finish victory over teammate Regan Smith during a two-lap shootout. To go along with a total of 21 top-20 results and an average-finishing result of 20.0 throughout the 33-race schedule, Sieg concluded his first full-time Xfinity season in 16th place in the final standings.
Returning for a second full-time campaign in the Xfinity Series in 2015, Sieg only achieved a single top-10 result at Kansas in October, where he finished eighth. Nonetheless, he earned two additional top-20 results compared to his rookie season (23) and improved his average-finishing result from his first season from 20.0 to 19.1 as he concluded the season in 11th place in the final standings.
In 2016, Sieg earned a total of 18 top-20 results, including his second top-five career result after finishing third at Daytona in July, throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, which was enough for him to qualify for the inaugural Xfinity Series Playoffs. Despite finishing 16th, 19th and 10th, respectively, throughout the Playoff’s Round of 12, he was one of four competitors to be eliminated early from title contention. Despite the early elimination, he achieved three additional top-15 results during the final four scheduled events before settling in a career-best ninth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in the Xfinity Series.
In comparison to the previous Xfinity season, the 2017 season was a difficult season for Sieg. While the Georgian achieved a career-best runner-up result behind William Byron at Iowa Speedway in June, 11 additional results in the top 20 throughout the regular-season stretch were not enough for him to qualify for the Playoffs. With an average-finishing result of 20.8, he fell back to 15th place in the final standings.
Coming off another difficult season in 2018, where he piloted three different numbers for RSS Racing (Nos. 38, 39 and 93) and achieved only two top-10 results and 21 top-20 results before finishing in 16th place in the final standings, Sieg commenced the 2019 Xfinity season on a strong note by finishing fourth at Daytona in February. He then finished no lower than 16th during the following 11-scheduled events, with the Georgian earning his second top-five result of the season after finishing fifth at Richmond Raceway in April. Despite accumulating an additional seven top-20 results, three of which were top-10 finishes, during the following 15 regular-season events, he made his second career appearance in the Xfinity Series Playoffs. After being eliminated from the Playoffs following respective finishes of 12th, 30th and 10th during the Round of 12, he capped off the season with four consecutive top-13 results before finishing in 11th place in the final standings. By then, he achieved the most top-10 results in a season at 12 along with his career-best average-finishing result in a season to date at 14.6. He also surpassed 200 Xfinity career starts.
The 2020 Xfinity season generated Sieg’s best results in the circuit that commenced with a ninth-place run at Daytona followed by two consecutive top-five results after finishing third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and fourth at Auto Club Speedway in February. After the first five scheduled events, where he finished no lower than 11th, Sieg was ranked in seventh place in the regular-season standings. Despite earning only three additional top-10 results during the final 21 regular-season events, Sieg secured a spot in the Xfinity Playoffs for the third time in his career. At the start of the Playoffs, respective finishes of fifth, second and 21st enabled the Georgian to advance from the Round of 12 to 8. He was eliminated from reaching the Championship 4 finale after recording respective results of third, 31st and 11th during the Round of 8, but he proceeded to finish in 10th place in the final standings. Despite concluding the season with one less top-10 result from the previous season at 11, he achieved a career-high seven top-five results along with 103 total laps led in a season. He also capped off the 2020 season with an average-finishing result of 15.5.
The 2021 Xfinity season marked a new beginning for Sieg and RSS Racing, with the driver and team switching manufacturers from Chevrolet to Ford. In comparison to the previous two seasons, the 2021 season was a difficult season for Sieg, who managed six top-10 results during the 26-race regular-season stretch and failed to qualify for the Playoffs. He went on to finish in 14th place in the final standings.
At the start of Sieg’s ninth campaign in the Xfinity circuit, he achieved an eighth-place result at Daytona followed by a 10th-place result at Auto Club Speedway in February. To go along with seven additional top-10 results through 25 regular-season events, Sieg remained in contention of qualifying for the Playoffs. During the regular-season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, Sieg benefitted from late-race misfortunes affecting Landon Cassill and Sheldon Creed to finish 10th and claim the 12th and final berth to the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs, which marked his fourth presence in the postseason battle for the championship. Despite finishing no lower than ninth during the Round of 12, however, Sieg missed the cutoff to transfer to the Round of 8 by two points. With two events remaining to this year’s schedule, he is currently ranked in 11th place in the drivers’ standings after coming off back-to-back results outside of the top 30.
Through 299 previous Xfinity starts, Sieg has achieved 16 top-five results, 52 top-10 results, 195 laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.1.
Sieg is set to make his 300th Xfinity Series career start at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, October 29, with the event’s coverage to occur at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
