Roulette Recap follows a randomly-selected NASCAR Xfinity Series driver throughout a race and recaps their efforts. The driver could face calamity on lap one or start from the rear and win the race – there is no telling ahead of time. With that, may the odds be ever in the driver’s favor.
Explore the Pocono Mountains 225
With 16 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts in the 2023 season heading into Pocono Raceway, RSS Racing driver, Kyle Sieg, has had a quiet yet notable year. The young driver from Tucker, Georgia has completed all but two races this season and notched a top-10 finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Additionally, his season-average finish of 22.6 is better than his average starting position of 25.6.
For the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225, K. Sieg ranked 16th in the short practice session. Following this solid effort, he qualified P20 – his third-best starting position for the season.
Stage 1
At the drop of the green flag, K. Sieg faced his first bit of adversity for the day. As he went high into Turn 1, he got a bump from Parker Kligerman which sent Sieg’s No. 28 into the wall.
This bump shuffled him back to P29. However, K. Sieg immediately went on a run.
By Lap 8, he gained two positions. Crew chief Teddy Brown told his driver, “Just need to work on (turns) one and two. Just drive in a little deeper. Turn 3 is great!”
That added fuel to K. Sieg’s fire. He started passing drivers and gaining positions, nearly by the lap.
After he claimed P25, Brown encouraged K. Sieg, “You’re faster than the next 10 in front of you.”
Once the short stage came to a close, K. Sieg was scored P23.
He updated his team on how he was feeling, “Decent. Just a little loose at the beginning, but it’s going to go tighter. So it’s probably where it needs to be. Maybe just a small air pressure adjustment.”
Stage 2
During the stage break, K. Sieg came to his team for those minor adjustments. Unfortunately, it was a lengthy stop and the team gave up numerous spots. Seig would restart P29 on Lap 26 with the same game plan – go forward.
Spotter Steve Barkdoll told K. Sieg, “You’re better than a lot of these guys back here. Let’s get around them.” Slowly but surely, he did just that – gaining two positions in the opening two laps of the stage.
Lap nine of the stage saw K. Sieg sitting P26 and in a tough battle with a neighboring car.
As K. Sieg came up on Anthony Alfredo in P25, Barkdoll said, “Take ’em both. You’re better than both of them!” The young driver did just that, settling into P24 on Lap 34.
As K. Sieg got to the bumper of Joe Graf, Jr., Barkdoll said, “He’s just holding you up.” Brown confirmed, “He’s holding you up about three-tenths a lap.”
Barkdoll responded, “Go get that run on him.”
With four to go in the stage, Brown immediately said, “Lots of guys talking about pitting in the next two laps.”
With that, three drivers hit pit road. This propelled him into the top 20 to finish out the stage in P19.
Stage 3
K. Sieg told his team, “Still a little tight,” as the stage ended, and the team made a plan of attack. Another lengthy stop set the No. 28 team back, forcing another “eyes forward” situation for K. Sieg.
Barkdoll worked on calming his driver, saying, “Deep breath. We have one more stop coming our way.”
The next restart came on Lap 46 with K. Sieg in P26. However, the caution was immediately in the air as the No. 00 of Cole Custer and the No. 20 of John Hunter Nemechek got into each other on the restart.
K. Sieg was worried about potential nose damage but got the okay from Barkdoll. With that, Sieg would restart P21 on Lap 51, with a pit stop game plan.
Although it was a chaotic restart, it stayed clean. K. Sieg gained three positions in the opening lap.
He certainly had to feel pretty confident with the repeated, “Clear” commands from Barkdoll. Unfortunately, as he settled in, he lost a couple of spots awaiting word to pit.
As the No. 21 of Austin Hill got around him, Barkdoll said, “Let him help you.”
Final Cautions
Just as predicted, with 35 to go, green flag pit stops began. These stops shook up the field a bit and K. Sieg worked his way to P10 at which time he was called to pit road.
He came in for right-side tires and fuel only with 28 to go and returned to the track P34, still on the lead lap. Barkdoll told K. Sieg, “We need 25 of your best laps.”
The leader was closing in on his bumper but had yet to pit. Four laps later, the No. 26 of Kaz Grala hit the wall, but the race stayed clean. As Grala hit pit road, so did the leader. This bumped K. Sieg to P30 with 20 to go.
In the closing laps, Barkdoll was encouraging his driver on lap times and running lanes. With this, K. Sieg gained two more spots but was nearing a predicament. The new leader, who had yet to pit, had a 10-second lead on the field, and K. Sieg was the last car on the lead lap.
With 12 to go, many leaders started to hit pit road, allowing K. Sieg to gain much-needed positions. But one lap later, the No. 35 of Joey Gase went for a wild spin after contact with the No. 07 of Justin Allgaier, bringing out the caution.
At that time, K. Sieg was sitting P22. He came over the radio and said, “Well, that screwed everybody.”
Brown made the call to come in for fuel and tires – two of which were 10 lappers. With six to go, K. Sieg restarted P20. Through Turn 3, he was sitting three-wide and got shuffled to P21.
NASCAR Overtime
With four to go, the caution was out again as the No. 19 of Connor Mocask slammed the wall. This set up NASCAR Overtime with K. Sieg in P20 and the sun setting quickly.
Drivers made it into and out of Turn 1 clean and K. Sieg gained a spot.
Taking the white flag, debris was flying through the field as the leaders were banging doors.
AUSTIN HILL WINS AT POCONO https://t.co/s0oS6evRJw pic.twitter.com/97U4qV7NTA
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) July 22, 2023
Excitedly, Barkdoll told his driver, “Pass everyone you can!” Ultimately, as chaos ensued and the race ended under caution, K. Sieg was scored a solid and hard-fought P16.
Sponsor Shoutout
As NASCAR fans know, sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to one that was a huge part of the weekend for Kyle Sieg and the No. 28 team:
Sparkling Ice and US Hydrations
Be sure to give Kyle Sieg (Instagram, Twitter) and RSS Racing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) a follow to keep up with the latest news from the driver and team.
