Ryan Sieg wins first NASCAR O'Reilly race after 13 years of trying

13 years, 424 starts, and five runner-up finishes later -- Ryan Sieg has finally won a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race, driving the No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet into victory lane at Daytona. 

"This is incredible," said Sieg after climbing out of the car. "Especially doing it here at Daytona. I've been coming here since I was a baby. To do it right now and the way we did it, that's amazing… This has been a long way coming. Last week we got the pole, and we came back to Daytona where I really wanted to win and we fricking did it."

On what he was thinking exiting the final corner, Sieg added: "Just don't mess up and get too far out, and just watching both lanes."

Sieg took the lead on an overtime restart, and managed to defend against both Carson Kvapil and Austin Hill in the run to the checkered flag.

Hill finished second, Kvapil third, Anthony Alfredo fourth, and Brandon Jones fifth. Justin Allgaier, Brennan Poole, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, and Sheldon Creed filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Stages 1 & 2

Caruth led the race from pole position, but the lead quickly traded hands as several drivers made their presence known at the front of the field. 

Jesse Love had some early drama with overheating, and needed to pit to clean the grille of debris.

The stage ultimately ended under yellow after Patrick Staropoli spun, collecting Sam Mayer, Brent Crews, Daniel Dye, and Josh Williams. Of note, Crews entered this race right on the edge of the Chase bubble, but that wreck essentially ended his chances.

Hill won Stage 1 under caution, followed by Kvapil, Caruth, Alfredo, Smith, H. Burton, Allgaier, B. Jones, Sawalich, and Tay. Gray.

In Stage 2, the action remained intense, and the next wreck wasn't far away. Halfway through the stage, Day came down in front of Alfredo a little bit late and it got turned down into Smith, whose No. 8 got hooked directly into the outside wall. The car slid directly into the path of Sawalich, who suffered heavy damage.

These early wrecks that left Sawalich and Crews torn up essentially paved the way for Caruth, Gray, and even the wounded Mayer to make their way into the Chase field.

Stage 2 ultimately ended under yellow as well, this time due to a wild spin by Hill on the front stretch. He spun off the nose of Alfredo, pulling nearly four full 360-degree spins and suffering almost no damage.

Caruth won Stage 2 behind the pace car, followed by Alfredo, Kvapil, Allgaier, J. Burton, Creed, Mayer, Love, Perkins, and Sanchez.

Stage 3

Ryan Sieg, No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen - Getty Images

H. Burton and B. Jones led the way at the start of the final stage, but they quickly got shuffled back.

After some dicing, Kvapil found himself in control of the race with JRM teammates Caruth and Allgaier directly behind him. Most of the stage remained single-file, but with a few laps to go, Caruth started looking for a way around Kvapil.

Down the backstretch, he had a big push from Allgaier but got sideways, spinning and slamming the outside wall. It was a brutal end to a strong night, but he was still safely in the Chase field thanks to the stage points he collected earlier.

This pushed the race into overtime, with Kvapil trying to hold on for a third consecutive NASCAR O'Reilly win.

However, as he moved high in front of Allgaier, Hill shoved Sieg out in front of the field. He never relinquished it, claiming his first-ever win at any of the national levels of NASCAR.

Watch: Florida native Chastain calls Daytona pole a 'life achievement'

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	R. Sieg RSS Racing	38		Chevrolet	105	1:58'51.555		5	55
2	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	21		Chevrolet	105	+0.149 1:58'51.704	0.149	5	45
3	C. Kvapil JR Motorsports	1		Chevrolet	105	+0.159 1:58'51.714	0.010	5	51
4	A. Alfredo Viking Motorsports	96		Chevrolet	105	+0.242 1:58'51.797	0.083	5	49
5	B. Jones Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	105	+0.248 1:58'51.803	0.006	5	36
6	J. Allgaier JR Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	105	+0.333 1:58'51.888	0.085	6	42
7	B. Poole Alpha Prime Racing	44		Chevrolet	105	+0.366 1:58'51.921	0.033	5	30
8	H. Burton Sam Hunt Racing	24		Toyota	105	+0.467 1:58'52.022	0.101	6	34
9	J. Burton Jordan Anderson Racing	27		Chevrolet	105	+0.473 1:58'52.028	0.006	5	34
10	S. Creed Haas Factory Team	00		Chevrolet	105	+0.537 1:58'52.092	0.064	6	32
11	J. Williams DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	92		Chevrolet	105	+0.557 1:58'52.112	0.020	5	26
12	G. Smithley SS-Green Light Racing	0		Chevrolet	105	+0.574 1:58'52.129	0.017	7	25
13	L. Honeyman Jr. DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	105	+0.613 1:58'52.168	0.039	8
14	P. Retzlaff Viking Motorsports	99		Chevrolet	105	+0.746 1:58'52.301	0.133	5	23
15	B. Perkins Jordan Anderson Racing	31		Chevrolet	105	+0.773 1:58'52.328	0.027	6	24
16	N. Sanchez Peterson Racing Group	87		Chevrolet	105	+0.820 1:58'52.375	0.047	5	21
17	R. Ellis Young's Motorsports	02		Chevrolet	105	+1.145 1:58'52.700	0.325	6	20
18	L. Scott Alpha Prime Racing	45		Chevrolet	105	+1.174 1:58'52.729	0.029	7	19
19	M. Maggio DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	91		Chevrolet	105	+1.379 1:58'52.934	0.205	5	18
20	J. Love Richard Childress Racing	2		Chevrolet	105	+1.958 1:58'53.513	0.579	7	20
21	K. Sieg RSS Racing	28		Chevrolet	105	+2.214 1:58'53.769	0.256	7	16
22	N. Decker Young's Motorsports	42		Chevrolet	105	+2.236 1:58'53.791	0.022	6
23	J. Gase Joey Gase Motorsports	55		Chevrolet	105	+2.488 1:58'54.043	0.252	6	14
24	C. Ware Joey Gase Motorsports	53		Chevrolet	105	+4.584 1:58'56.139	2.096	6	13
25	S. Mayer Haas Factory Team	41		Chevrolet	105	+8.940 1:59'00.495	4.356	8	17
26	T. Gray Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	105	+11.378 1:59'02.933	2.438	7	12
27	D. Thompson Sam Hunt Racing	26		Toyota	105	+13.474 1:59'05.029	2.096	7	10
28	J. Bilicki SS-Green Light Racing	07		Chevrolet	104	+1 Lap 1:58'04.324	1 Lap	5	9	Accident
29	C. Day Hendrick Motorsports	17		Chevrolet	104	+1 Lap 1:58'59.524	55.200	6	8
30	A. Jankowiak RSS Racing	39		Ford	103	+2 Laps 1:59'03.493	1 Lap	7	7
31	C. Bacarella Alpha Prime Racing	4		Chevrolet	103	+2 Laps 1:59'09.456	5.963	7	6
32	R. Caruth JR Motorsports	88		Chevrolet	103	+2 Laps 1:59'57.191	47.735	12	23
33	J. Clements Jeremy Clements Racing	51		Chevrolet	94	+11 Laps 1:59'02.590	9 Laps	10	4
34	P. Staropoli Big Machine Racing Team	48		Chevrolet	73	+32 Laps 1:59'30.815	21 Laps	5	3
35	B. Crews Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	61	+44 Laps 1:59'01.649	12 Laps	7	2
36	S. Smith JR Motorsports	8		Chevrolet	44	+61 Laps 44'39.074	17 Laps	4	7	Accident
37	W. Sawalich Joe Gibbs Racing	18		Toyota	44	+61 Laps 44'39.178	0.104	4	3	Accident
38	D. Dye Jordan Anderson Racing	32		Chevrolet	27	+78 Laps 21'47.599	17 Laps	2		Accident
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