Roulette Recap follows a randomly selected driver throughout a race to break down their efforts. There is no telling ahead of time how the race will go. The driver could face calamity on the opening lap or start from the rear and win the race. With that, may the odds be ever in the driver’s favor.
Cabo Wabo 250
The first NASCAR Xfinity Series race following the Olympic break fell in Ford’s backyard. With that, Ryan Sieg looked to put on a show for his manufacturer.
Leading up to the race at Michigan International Speedway, R. Sieg has had quite the season. It started with a nail-biting, runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway and has included three more top 10 finishes. To boot, he has led 52 laps thus far.
He kicked off the MIS race weekend P4 in practice. Then, he earned a top 10 starting spot – P7 to be exact.
Stage 1
After a jumbled start to the Cabo Wabo 250 which saw three-wide racing throughout the field, R. Sieg worked up to P5 within two laps.
It was a quiet run following the initial start. However, directly behind R. Sieg, there was a good deal of shakeup, but the driver of the No. 39 kept it P5.
On Lap 10, crew chief Matt Noyce informed spotter Tim Fedewa that rain was just minutes away.
As the stage hit the halfway mark, Taylor Gray went for a spin and brought out the caution.
R. Sieg noted he was just a little free, but “nothing too major.” With that, Noyce kept his driver on track which allowed R. Sieg to maintain P5 for the Lap 19 restart.
Sammy Smith had trouble on the restart, but made it to pit road without bringing out the caution. R. Sieg fell a little but got back to P5. He dropped low to attempt to make a move, but got sucked back P8 before settling in at P7.
Fedewa encouraged his driver, “You only lost two [spots]. Keep it up.”
Move to the Front
With six to go, Sheldon Creed went for a spin and brought out the caution. This allowed R. Sieg to move to P6. Noyce decided to keep R. Sieg on track and run for stage points. The dicussion moved to ‘where’ to restart – “Be safe and take the top” or “Can you hang on for a few laps on the bottom?”
Ultimately, Fedewa left it in the drivers’ hands and said, “Go with your gut.” And R. Sieg’s gut said take the bottom to restart on the second row with three to go.
With a push to the No. 7, R. Sieg moved to P2. He then got a push from the No. 98 as drivers took two to go. The top 10 were running single file.
However, with one to go, R. Sieg got a push from Chandler Smith to take the lead. Sieg also took a much needed stage win.
With the green-white-checkered came the rain. Fedewa immediately stated, “The track has changed color.”
Under the stage caution, Noyce reminded his driver to save all the fuel he could, “That’s one of the only ways we can win this race.”
NASCAR sent teams a reminder that 8:20pm ET was the “stop time” in the event of rain. Then, as the rain continued, NASCAR brought teams to pit road and red flagged the action.
Stage 2
During the break, the ‘guys in the booth’ spoke with R. Sieg to talk about the “huge” stage win. He talked about needing to have a pushing partner, and how seeing C. Smith spin out on his own gave him the confience to push Justin Allgaier.
After the small cell moved on and the track was good to go, teams returned to the track. Fedewa went to work with Noyce to come up with a game plan to lead a few laps, then back the pace off, even if it meant getting passed, in order to save fuel.
The action resumed on a suddenly sunny track on Lap 37 with a solid push from Brandon Jones. The caution was immediately out as Austin Hill went for a crazy spin through the infield. Allgaier had worked his way ahead of R. Sieg for the lead.
Under caution, it was back to discussing top or bottom, lead or push. He opted for the top lane and he was working hard to push Allgaier out front to repeat the stage end move.
R. Sieg fell into P2 with AJ Allmendinger pushing. The leaders almost collected each other, but managed to keep it clean, and R. Sieg kept his position.
Ruckus for Ryan
On Lap 47, Carson Kvapil worked his way around the No. 39 with John Hunter Nemechek following. Just as R. Sieg settled into P4, Herbst worked around him and slammed into the wall.
As Herbst made his way up the track, he nailed the No. 39. Noyce brought his driver in for repairs, fresh tires, and some adjustments. After all the repairs, he returned to the track in P34 with six to go in the stage.
Fedewa said, “Let’s get through [Turns] 1 and 2, and we’ll start picking them off one by one.”
It was chaos throughout the field and within a lap, he made his way to P26. Two laps later, he was up to P21.
On the final lap, R. Sieg was on the bumper of his brother, Kyle Sieg. He finished the stage P19, having gained a lot of ground in the final laps.
Stage 3
Under caution, Noyce brought R. Sieg to the pits for four fresh tires and a splash of fuel. He asked how it drove and Sieg said, “Oh, just riding. Drove fine. Just pushing Kyle.”
His crew chief responded, “No more riding after this.”
R. Sieg started the final stage in P21. He found himself sitting bottom of three and worked hi way to P17. The yellow quickly came out as Lawless Alan and Daniel Dye got into each other, and sent Jeb Burton spinning.
Noyce brought R. Sieg in for additional repairs from the wreck with Herbst and then a subsequent overheating issue.
The extended time in the pits set R. Sieg up to restart P31 on Lap 72. Fedewa encouraged his driver, “Take care of it. Long way to go. We’ll be there at the end.”
Within a lap, R. Sieg found himself knocking on the door of the top 20.
50 to Go
With 50 to go (Lap 75), he hit P20. Then, following his brother through the field, he made his way to P18. Two more laps afforded him two more spots as he continued to work through the field.
In another two laps, Noyce radioed to his driver that his lap times were as fast as the leader.
With 37 to go, R. Sieg finaly worked his way around his brother and was informed rain was approximately 30 minutes out. Noyce informed the team they were one of three teams who were “way, way good on fuel.” Two laps later, he was sitting P14 and was told, “These are okay lap times.”
R. Sieg moved up two more positions and waited for the leaders to take to the pits. During this time, he maintained position, but the talk was all about rain moving in quickly.
With 17 to go, the leaders hit pit road, Sieg was scored P10, and Noyce and Fedewa were keeping an eye on the skies.
But, with 10 to go, the caution waved as Kyle Weatherman slammed the wall hard in Turn 2.
Noyce brought Sieg in from P10 for fresh tires and a splash of fuel to finish out the race as mist was felt around the track.
Before the race could resume, rain could be seen all around the track. NASCAR brought teams to pit road.
NASCAR Overtime
Waiting out the rain and red flag, Sieg was scored in P21. Noyce told his driver, “Stay positive. If this gets rained out, it was a bad call. But if we go green, it’s going to pay off.”
Once again, drivers fired engines and took to a sunny track to face NASCAR Overtime. Fedewa could only say, “Be smart. It’s going to get freaking crazy.”
The green was in the air and Sieg gained two spots sitting three-wide, and on the final lap moved to P15.
Then, all chaos broke lose. Sieg’s brother went airborne and slid on his roof down the backstretch, while cars went spinning in all directions.
But, when the dust settled, Ryan Sieg brought it home P13.
Sponsor Shoutout + Driver & Team Socials
NASCAR fans know sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to SciAps and Kripke Enterprises who played a huge part of the weekend for Ryan and the No. 39 team.
Be sure to give Ryan Sieg (Facebook, Instagram, X) and RSS Racing (Facebook, Instagram, X) a follow to keep up with the latest news from the driver and team.
