Sieg Faces Uphill Battle for Dash 4 Cash Glory

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

The $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus goes a long way for any team that can earn the coveted prize. In this weekend’s OneMain Financial 200 at Dover International Speedway, Ryan Sieg will be one of four drivers attempting to earn the bonus. However, despite the fact that Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers are barred from competing, Sieg and his family-owned RSS Racing team will still face an uphill battle in doing so.

Sieg’s Dash 4 Cash competitors include Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones, and JR Motorsports drivers Elliott Sadler, who has won the bonus in two of the three Dash 4 Cash races this year, and Justin Allgaier. Of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers, Allgaier has the best finish at the 1.0-Mile high-banked concrete track with a second-place finish last fall. Sieg has never finished better than 12^th or worse than 20^th in eight trips to the “Monster Mile.”

Sadler has the most experience at Dover with 20 starts in the Xfinity Series alone. In those 20 starts, he never finished better than fourth. Meanwhile, Jones has just four starts with a best finish of 17^thand two DNFs.

Sieg qualified for the Dash 4 Cash by finishing sixth at Talladega in the No. 39 Alabama Soda & Abrasive Blasting Chevrolet Camaro SS. He was the fifth highest finishing Xfinity Series regular and became a Dash 4 Cash competitor following the indefinite suspension of Spencer Gallagher. This weekend, the 31-year-old will have Lombard Brothers Gaming onboard as the primary sponsor once again with Alabama Soda & Abrasive Blasting on the quarter panels.

The suspension of Gallagher also alters the Championship Points Standings for the Xfinity Series. Prior to the suspension, Sieg was 21-points behind the cutoff for the Playoffs, which was held by Ross Chastain. Now Austin Cindric holds the cutoff and now the Tucker, GA native is just 14-points from the cutoff for the 2018 Playoffs.