By David Morgan, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s been a long time coming, but Ryan Sieg is now officially a winner in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Sieg stormed to the lead in overtime in Friday night’s Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona International Speedway and held serve through to the checkered flag, breaking a 423-race winless streak and finally putting a mark in the win column.
It appeared that Friday night’s race was going to come down to one of the JR Motorsports cars with their Chevrolets occupying the first three spots as the field circulated single file with three laps to go.
But as they headed into Turn 3 on that lap, an errant bump between Justin Allgaier and Rajah Caruth sent Caruth for a spin and sent the race into overtime.
Sieg would start on the second row in the inside lane for the overtime restart just behind Carson Kvapil and ahead of Austin Hill.
When Kvapil moved up the track to join forces with Allgaier for the two-lap overtime finish, it paved the way for Sieg to power his way into the lead with some help from Hill.
As the other leaders jockeyed for position behind him, Sieg stayed glued to that lower lane with Hill a constant presence in his rear-view mirror and he would not be budged from that top spot, scooting across the finish line to finally capture the win that has eluded him for 13 years.
At long last, the checkered flag waves on @RyanSiegRacing. 👏 pic.twitter.com/IRJPrzit22
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) August 29, 2026
“This is incredible. Unbelievable. Especially to do it here at Daytona,” said Sieg. “I’ve been coming here since I was a baby. We’ve come here every summer race and to do it now the way we did it, that’s amazing.
“…This has been a long time coming. Last week we got the pole and we came back to Daytona where I really wanted to win. We freaking did it.”
Asked what was going through his mind as he came off Turn 4 toward the checkered flag having been in this position so many times before, Sieg was straight to the point.
“Just don’t mess up and get too far out was the biggest thing,” he said. “Definitely just watching both lanes. We had a good enough car to do it. Just thank Chevrolet and Hendrick power, Joe Custer, Haas, everybody that helps this whole 38 team.
“Just super exited to do it here at Daytona!”
Hill would finish second, with Kvapil in third, Anthony Alfredo in fourth, and Brandon Jones in sixth.
Justin Allgaier will head into the Chase as the No. 1 seed, having finished in sixth, with the rest of the top-10 going to Brennan Poole, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, and Sheldon Creed.
Chase Field Solidified
Friday night’s race also solidified the 12-driver field for the Chase, with Parker Retzlaff, Sam Mayer, Taylor Gray, and Caruth locking in for the postseason battle for the championship.
Gray and Caruth started the night on the outside looking it at -1 and -15 points, respectively, but through attrition in the race and having built enough points through the stages, had enough of a buffer to make it in.
Caruth in particular had amassed a buffer of more than 30 points before his incident with Allgaier in the waning laps left him just five points to the good to make it in the Chase.
“We were in a great spot, us three, and I wanted to obviously go and race and racing for my first win, but also realizing the situation. We were in a great spot with how fast our cars were just like it’s been for a lot of this year for me just knowing the time and place to do things and awareness,” said Caruth.
“So, lessons learned, but bummed about the end, but great lessons learned and things I can apply.”
RAJAH CRASHES! 😱
A heartbreaking spin and collision with the wall for @rajahcaruth_, who is battling to make The Chase. pic.twitter.com/7jjaIMfhwi
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) August 29, 2026
“We were so fast, so we could have just pulled the line along and I thought initially dragging back was going to help us progress forward because it would push the 7 [Allgaier] back to me and then get back to Carson,” Caruth added.
“But in hindsight that just brought the field kind of closer to us. So, I do that different, I guess moving forward and just wait till the white flag.”
With Caruth claiming the 12th and final spot in the Chase, JRM was able to get all four of their cars into the postseason, something Allgaier was ecstatic about even given the circumstances of how Friday night nearly ended in disaster.
“Awesome, man. It’s really awesome,” Allgaier said of the accomplishment. “Obviously going in tonight, you know all the scenarios, you know what’s going on, you know how tight the battle is. You obviously don’t want to be a factor in that, right?
“My biggest goal was to not put anybody in a bad spot, and obviously I did that to my own teammates, so that’s probably the most disappointing part. But I feel like those guys, the 88 team executed flawless on the stages, put themselves in a great spot.
“As a company, we did a really good job tonight of kind of managing the front of the race at any given moment. And so those are the things that you have to do. But it’s encouraging to go to Talladega here in a few weeks, just in general, I think as a whole. I’m really proud of our program, proud of what we got going and just keep pushing.”
The two Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of William Sawalich and Brent Crews would find themselves caught up crashes on Lap 27 and 45, dropping them out of the race and out of the Chase.
Sawalich and Crews entered the night as the last two cars above the cut line tied on the bubble.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series heads to Darlington Raceway next Saturday to start their run of the Chase. The Fleetio 200 is scheduled for 7:30 pm ET on The CW.
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