Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements trying to cash in “Dash for Cash” for the little teams
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.”
Brian Vickers shares perspective on Rob Kauffman and comments on RTA
On Monday, a thought-provoking announcement was made when nine multi-car Sprint Cup Series teams announced that they have formed a collaborative business association called the Race Team Alliance (RTA).
The press release from the RTA states that their purpose is “to create an open forum for the teams to explore areas of common interest and to work collaboratively on initiatives to help preserve, promote, and grow the sport of stock car racing”. This group of nine plans plans to explore ways to make the business aspect of NASCAR better for the long-term health of the sport.
The following teams are part of the RTA: Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Team Penske. The organization has stated that they intend to open up membership to all full time NSCS teams.
Rob Kauffman, co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, has been elected the first chair of the RTA.
During his media teleconference on Tuesday, MWR driver Brian Vickers was asked about his thoughts on Kauffman’s involvement with MWR, in which Vickers says that Kauffman brings a lot to their team. Vickers shares that with with Kauffman coming from the finance side of things, he brings “a level of experience and wisdom from the business world” to MWR.
“And he’s passionate about racing, “Vickers added. “He really, really loves racing. He loves to go fast. He’s one of the few owners that still drives himself. Rob still actively races. I had the fortunate opportunity to race some with him myself in 2012 and got to spend a lot of time with him traveling around the world, running to different races.
“He’s a passionate, hungry guy on and off the racetrack. He really enjoys his cars. He’s got RK Motors, his car collection. They buy, sell, collect old cars. An amazing facility based in Charlotte. He’s put a lot into Michael Waltrip Racing. He’s done a lot of racing himself. I think that whole package makes MWR a great place. When you tell Rob the car is loose, he knows what that is. He probably was just racing the weekend before and knows exactly what that experience is like. Obviously Michael is the same way.”
Vickers was also asked for his comments on RTA and says that he has heard little details, but nothing really important.
“I just get in the car every Friday and just drive as fast as I can, pretty much do everything I can to make that process go faster,” Vickers added. “I don’t know enough, to be honest with you, about it to have any opinion. I think any of those questions are better addressed to Rob or the ownership group. But in general, you know, I have a lot of respect for the owners in this industry. If they feel there’s a need, then there’s probably a need for it, so I wish them all the best.”
Vickers added that as someone in the sport, there’s always concerns surrounding the longevity and costs and how to keep that balanced with good competition to keep the sport going for everyone involved inside and the fans that have a passion for it.
As far as whether Vickers is worried about what could happen as a result of the RTA, he says that the question can’t be answered yet as there’s not enough information there to judge on it moving forward.
“I think time will tell. We’ll see how this unfolds, how it takes shape, and try to be a constructive part of it or a constructive part to the industry,” Vickers commented. “Ultimately it’s an entertainment business. I’m a competitor. I want to win. After all the health issues I had, I came back racing because I want to win a championship. Basically my focus is anything that can help me get from here to there is really my focus. If that ends up being something that can help me get from here to a championship, then sounds great. If it can’t, then it’s a distraction.
“That’s pretty much where I’m at on kind of everything in general, is that’s where my focus is.”
