Ryan Sieg made career start No. 424 in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series one to remember for the ages. He made it memorable by scoring his first career win in the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 28, amid an overtime shootout.
The 39-year-old Sieg from Tucker, Georgia, led the final two of 105 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started in 12th place, kept his entry intact and utilized only a fuel-service stop prior to the final stage period to restart towards the front. While racing towards the front throughout the final stage period, Sieg was scored in fifth place when a caution for a single-car spin with three laps remaining sent the event into overtime.
During an overtime shootout, Sieg seized an opportunity and utilized a draft from Austin Hill to duel against Carson Kvapil for a full lap before he motored ahead prior to the final lap. For a final circuit around Daytona, Sieg utilized strong defensive moves by fending off Kvapil, Hill and a stacked field before he claimed his first elusive checkered flag under the lights at the World Center of Racing.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Rajah Caruth achieved his first career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 183.232 mph in 49.118 seconds. Teammate Carson Kvapil qualified in second place with a lap of 182.856 mph in 49.219 seconds.
Before the event, Dean Thompson and newcomer Andy Jankowiak dropped to the rear of the field after unapproved adjustments to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Rajah Caruth, who elected to start on the outside lane, gained the first advantage through the frontstretch as he motored his No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead of the field. Entering the first turn, he transitioned from the outside lane to the inside lane to line up in front of Kvapil within the draft while Sheldon Creed led the outside lane. As both Caruth and Creed dueled in front of two-stacked lanes for a full circuit, Creed managed to lead the first lap by 0.003 seconds over Caruth.
From the second to sixth lap, Caruth emerged as the leader in front of the field while Caesar Bacarella made an unscheduled pit stop on the third lap. Amid Caruth’s early advantage in front of the pack, he was challenged by Kvapil, Creed and a hard-charging Austin Hill before Creed reassumed the lead for the next two laps. Jesse Love would then navigate his way to the front and lead at and just past the 10th lap mark before Sam Mayer used the inside lane to assume the lead by the 12th lap.
Through the Lap 15 mark, Hill, who just assumed the lead for the first time, was leading Mayer, Taylor Gray, Creed, Sammy Smith, Caruth, Nick Sanchez, Kvapil, William Sawalich and Brandon Jones, respectively as the top-18 competitors in the leaderboard were racing under a second of one another. Hill proceeded to lead the next four laps, where the field had scattered, before Kvapil stormed atop the leaderboard by Lap 20. Hill, however, wasted no time reassuming the lead with a strong slingshot move beneath Kvapil exiting the backstretch during the next lap, and he led the next two laps before Mayer and Kvapil led the next two apiece, respectively.
Then on Lap 27, the event’s first caution flew when Patrick Staropoli, who was racing within the top-10 mark exiting the backstretch, got loose off the front of Jeremy Clements and spun in the middle of the track. Staropoli’s spin ignited a multi-car wreck that involved Josh Williams, Daniel Dye, Mayer and Brent Crews. The incident ignited major Chase implications for the latter two, though Mayer continued while Crews’ No. 19 Yahoo! Toyota Supra entry was taken to the garage for repairs.
The Lap 27 multi-car wreck was enough for the first stage period to conclude under caution. As a result, Hill, who reassumed the lead on Lap 27, was awarded his sixth stage victory of the 2026 season. Kvapil, Caruth, Anthony Alfredo, Sammy Smith, Harrison Burton, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, William Sawalich and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10, respectively, as 32 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Hill peeled off the racetrack to pit for service. Following the pit stops, Kvapil edged Corey Day off of pit road first despite contact being made between the two as Day had to make a sharp right-hand turn out of his pit box to avoid hitting Kyle Sieg’s pitted entry. Hill, Caruth, Sawalich, Sammy Smith, Gray, Harrison Burton, Alfredo and Clements followed suit, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 35 as Kvapil and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, Kvapil and Hill dueled in front of Day, Caruth and the field through the first two turns. Amid the side-by-side duel, Kvapil led the next lap and he proceeded to lead the next seven laps while he kept Hill, Day, Sawalich, Caruth and the fanned-out field behind. Hill would then lead, starting on Lap 43.
On Lap 44 and just as Hill fended off Caruth through the tri-oval to retain the lead, the caution flew when Day, who was racing towards the front, was bumped by Alfredo, veered sideways to the left and clipped Sammy Smith. The contact sent Smith head-on into the outside wall and into the path of William Sawalich, which left Sawalich’s No. 18 CW NXT Heatwave/SoundGear Toyota Supra demolished on the front end, while the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage. The incident terminated Sawalich’s event and it also implicated his Chase hopes.
The start of the next restart on Lap 52 featured Hill being pushed ahead by Kvapil briefly and from the outside lane through the frontstretch before the inside lane led by Caruth came storming back with momentum. With a push by Alfredo and Allgaier, Caruth assumed the lead as he also moved in front of Hill from the draft through the backstretch. Amid Hill’s challenge, Caruth maintained the lead over the next three laps.
Then on Lap 55, the caution returned when Hill, who tried to execute a crossover move beneath Caruth through the frontstretch, barely made contact across the front nose of Alfredo and spun in circles through the frontstretch’s inside lane and the grass while the rest of the field dodged Hill’s carnage, though Hill was able to proceed without sustaining significant damage. Hill’s incident concluded the second stage period, which allowed Caruth to capture his third stage victory of the 2026 season. Alfredo, Kvapil, Allgaier, Jeb Burton, Creed, Mayer, Jesse Love, Blaine Perkins and Brandon Jones settled in the top 10, respectively, as 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Caruth returned to pit road for service. After the pit stops and mixed pit strategies, Jones, who opted for a two-tire service, edged Ryan Sieg and Perkins off pit road first, while Kyle Sieg, Kvapil, Caruth, Creed, Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Love followed suit, respectively.
With 38 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Harrison Burton and Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Burton was pushed ahead of the field by Perkins through the first two turns, but Jones would assume the lead, where the latter would lead the next five laps. Soon after, Kvapil navigated his way to the front with 33 laps remaining, and he maintained the lead with 30 laps remaining while Creed, Hill, Jones, Jeb Burton, Caruth, Love, Allgaier, Leland Honeyman Jr. and Nick Sanchez followed suit, respectively.
Down to the final 25 laps and with the field scattered, Kvapil was leading ahead of Creed, Caruth, Allgaier, Honeyman, Ryan Sieg, Hill, Alfred, Jeb Burton and Love, respectively, while the top-14 competitors were separated by a second of one another. Caruth and Allgaier navigated their way into second and third behind teammate Kvapil on the track with 20 laps remaining, and the trio maintained the top-three spots ahead of Honeyman, Ryan Sieg and the field with 15 laps remaining while the top-14 competitors were separated by a second of one another.
With less than 10 laps remaining, Kvapil continued to lead teammates Caruth and Allgaier, followed by the field as most of the field lined up in single-line formation behind Kvapil towards the outside lane. The field led by Kvapil remained in single-line formation with five laps remaining.
Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew when Allgaier bumped and got Caruth loose exiting the backstretch. This caused Caruth to spin below the track before he slid back up the banking in Turn 3 and hit the outside wall on the right side despite being dodged by the oncoming field. Despite dropping out of the lead lap category, Caruth managed to continue with his damaged entry as he remained in Chase contention.
As the event restarted in overtime, Kvapil motored ahead of the field through the frontstretch. He then transitioned to the outside lane to line up in front of teammate Allgaier in the draft. This allowed Ryan Sieg, with drafting help from Hill, to challenge from the inside lane entering the backstretch. Amid the side-by-side battle, Sieg started to muscle his No. 38 Superior Integrity Services/SciAps Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead and he cleared the field with the lead in his possession when he took the white flag and started the final lap.
During the final lap, Sieg went into defensive mode as he fended off an outside lane charge by Kvapil through the first two turns before he veered back to the inside lane to receive another drafting advantage by Hill. With the field fanned out and stacked through the backstretch, Sieg maintained the lead over a side-by-side battle between Kvapil and Hill while Jones and Alfredo came storming through. With both Kvapil and Hill bouncing and side-drafting off of one another without generating a run, Sieg was able to fend off both lanes and cycle back to the frontstretch to win by a tenth of a second.
With the victory, Sieg, who is in his 13th consecutive full-time season as a competitor, became the 186th competitor overall to win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division and the first competitor to record a first career win in the O’Reilly division at Daytona since Austin Hill achieved the latest feat in February 2022. The Georgian also became the fifth first-time winner of the 2026 season while notching the 21st victory of this season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the second ever win for RSS Racing.
Despite not being in contention to make the 2026 Chase, Sieg was left enthusiastic and beaming with pride as he achieved a long-awaited first win in the O’Reilly division. Prior to the Daytona victory, Sieg had finished as high as second place five times.
“This is incredible,” Sieg said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “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 right now in the way we did it, that’s amazing. Just go to thank…everybody that helps us out to get to here. My mom and dad, my girlfriend, all the support, the whole team,…everybody is just all in and this has been a long time coming. [At Iowa Speedway], we got the pole and we came back to Daytona where I really wanted to win, so we freaking did it.”
Mired from Sieg’s victory was the outcome of who made the 2026 Chase field and who did not. In the end, Parker Retzlaff, Sam Mayer, Taylor Gray and Rajah Caruth secured the final four vacant berths to the Chase after they finished 14th, 25th, 26th and 32nd, respectively. For Caruth, he utilized the 19 stage points he accumulated throughout the first two stage periods combined with his 32nd-place result to claim the 12th and final Chase berth by five points.
“There was a couple of times early in the year that I threw away some points, so glad to mostly capitalize tonight,” Caruth said. “In the moment, I’m pretty bummed about the end of the race because I felt we were in a great spot [to win], but we’ll go to a new chapter tomorrow and get to work [for the Chase].”
For Gray, he will be the only Joe Gibbs Racing competitor who will contend for this year’s championship in the Chase. Meanwhile, teammates Brent Crews and William Sawalich, both of whom entered Daytona above the cutline, were left out of the Chase picture after their respective wrecks capped off their nights in 35th and 37th on the track, respectively. Overall, Sawalich and Crews missed the Chase by five and six points, respectively.
“It’s definitely frustrating, but ultimately, I put ourselves in that position,” Crews said. “I cost us 20 points at Iowa. It goes back to all the ifs and what’s and buts, but I know it happened for a reason. This team worked so hard, and I’m so grateful to be in the position that I am with them. Grateful for the opportunity. [Joe Gibbs Racing]’s done such a great job with these race cars and [I’m] excited to finish out the year strong.”
Austin Hill, who won at Daytona in February, settled in second place behind Sieg on the track while Carson Kvapil, Anthony Alfredo and Brandon Jones finished in the top five, respectively. Justin Allgaier, Brennan Poole, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton and Sheldon Creed completed the top 10 in the final running order on the track.
This event featured 21 lead changes for 11 different leaders, and four cautions for 25 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Reseeded Driver Points
| Rank | Driver | No | Points | Ldr | Nxt | Race Wins | Stage Wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Allgaier | 7 | 2100 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| 2 | Carson Kvapil | 1 | 2075 | -25 | 25 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Sheldon Creed | 0 | 2065 | -35 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | Jesse Love | 2 | 2060 | -40 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Austin Hill | 21 | 2055 | -45 | 5 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Brandon Jones | 20 | 2050 | -50 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | Corey Day | 17 | 2045 | -55 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | Sammy Smith | 8 | 2040 | -60 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Parker Retzlaff | 99 | 2035 | -65 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Sam Mayer | 41 | 2030 | -70 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Taylor Gray | 54 | 2025 | -75 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| 12 | Rajah Caruth | 88 | 2020 | -80 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
Results:
- Ryan Sieg, two laps led
- Austin Hill, 22 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Carson Kvapil, 50 laps led
- Anthony Alfredo, two laps led
- Brandon Jones, five laps led
- Justin Allgaier
- Brennan Poole
- Harrison Burton, one lap led
- Jeb Burton
- Sheldon Creed, three laps led
- Josh Williams
- Garrett Smithley
- Leland Honeyman Jr.
- Parker Retzlaff, one lap led
- Blaine Perkins
- Nick Sanchez
- Ryan Ellis
- Lavar Scott
- Mason Maggio
- Jesse Love, three laps led
- Kyle Sieg
- Natalie Dekcer
- Joey Gase
- Carson Ware
- Sam Mayer, five laps led
- Taylor Gray
- Dean Thompson
- Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident
- Corey Day, one lap down
- Andy Jankowiak, two laps down
- Caesar Bacarella, two laps down
- Rajah Caruth, two laps down, 11 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Jeremy Clements, 11 laps down
- Patrick Staropoli, 32 laps down
- Brent Crews, 44 laps down
- Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident
- William Sawalich – OUT, Accident
- Daniel Dye – OUT, Accident
The 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase commences next Saturday, September 5, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, for the Fleetio 200. The event’s broadcast time is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio, and SiriusXM.
