XFINITY: Kyle Sieg’s first career last-place finish precedes late-race Martinsville chaos

PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92

by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Kyle Sieg picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Dead On Tools 250 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #29 Night Owl Ford crashed after he completed 40 of 256 laps.

The finish came in Sieg’s 49th series start. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 5th for the #29, the 166th for Ford, and the 388th from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 27th for the #29, the 1,026th for Ford, and the 1,359th from a crash.

The 22-year-old younger brother of Ryan Sieg has shown steady improvement during the expansion of their family’s team RSS Racing. The younger Sieg showed immediate promise in ARCA, finishing 10th in his 2020 series debut at IRP, then took his first Top Five in the 2021 opener at Daytona. That May, this led to Sieg’s first XFINITY start at Dover, where he finished 34th in a joint effort between RSS and Mario Gosselin’s team DGM Racing. He ran a partial schedule last year, finishing a season-best 10th in another Daytona run that summer, and this year has run most of the calendar, swapping between three of the team’s four entries. He earned a career-best 7th in Atlanta in July, but also threatened for the win at Talladega before he slipped to 15th.

For Martinsville, Sieg would drive the team’s newest entry, the #29, with returning sponsorship from Night Owl National Contractors, Inc. He would compete against brother Ryan in the flagship #39 Sci Aps Ford – a sponsor that will step up to full-time backer in 2024 – plus Joe Graf, Jr. in the #38 Bucked Up Energy Ford and C.J. McLaughin in the #28 Sci Aps Ford. Coming into this race, all four of these teams had not once finished last in 2023.

Sieg was one of 40 drivers on the preliminary entry list, which was cut to 39 after CHK Racing withdrew Dawson Cram’s #74 Chevrolet. In practice - which was led by a surprising Blaine Perkins in Our Motorsports’ #02 PayDay Salutes Chevrolet – Sieg ranked just 30th, then qualified 28th with a lap of 92.213mph (20.535 seconds). The only DNQ was a frustrated Timmy Hill, whose #66 Cole Enterprises Toyota ran a strong 8th in practice, only to struggle with changing track conditions as the first car to take time.

Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Jeb Burton, whose #27 State Water Heaters Chevrolet was unable to take time in qualifying due to a radiator change. This change also handed him a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments. The same penalty was handed to 16th-place Brett Moffitt in the #25 AM Technical Solutions Ford (3rd in practice), 29th-place Jeffrey Earnhardt in the #45 ForeverLawn Cleveland Chevrolet (slowest in practice), 35th-place Chris Hacker in the #35 Emerling-Gase Motorsports Chevrolet, and 37th-place Devin Jones in the #07 Verinext Chevrolet. For both Hacker and Jones, it was their first series return after an absence: Hacker after a more than 70 days sobriety following a suspension for a DWI in August, and Jones following a DNQ on the “Roval” which was his first series attempt since 2017.

After some difficulty getting the final two rows organized, NASCAR had Moffitt line up ahead of Burton on the outside lane with Earnhardt ahead of Hacker on the inside line. On the break, Burton on the outside pulled ahead of Hacker, putting the #35 in last place. By the end of Lap 1, the spot fell to Devin Jones, who was 5.732 seconds back of the lead and already 0.395 behind Hacker. Jones remained in last through Lap 5, when he now trailed Akinori Ogata in the other Emerling-Gase car, the #53 Pneumatic Tools Shinano Chevrolet. The next time by, the first caution fell for Joe Graf, Jr. in the RSS #38. Running 30th at the time, Graf cut down a left-rear tire and spun off Turn 2. He got going again, but didn’t start rolling until then-leader Sammy Smith put him a lap down off the corner. Graf pitted for fresh tires and returned to the track the only car one lap down. Also pitting under yellow were Jeb Burton’s #27 and Ryan Ellis in the #43 KeenParts.com Chevrolet, who took the final spots on the lead lap from Devin Jones.

On the Lap 11 restart, Graf looked to stay in the Lucky Dog spot, but he began to have brake issues that forced him behind the wall on Lap 33. He entered the garage on the Turn 4 side, where the crew removed one of the wheels and retrieved more brake fluid. He was still in the garage on Lap 42, when Kyle Sieg was running 30th when his car pulled straight entering Turn 2. The #29 slammed the outside wall with the right-front, and the driver soon dropped the window net, signaling the end of his race. The car was then towed to the garage, where it sat in the open as the team’s hauler was parked outside the track. Under the caution, Graf’s crew continued to have the driver pump the brakes. On Lap 47, Graf returned to the track showing 16 laps down. He caught and passe Sieg on Lap 58, putting the #29 into last place.

This pass also proved critical in the LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship. Graf came into the race with the most Bottom Fives (6) and Bottom Tens (13) of all XFINITY drivers without a last-place finish in 2023. The last-place run would have put him in title contention. Instead, he’s now eliminated along with all other drivers without a last-place finish this year. He finished in 29th.

Finishing 37th was Devin Jones, who pulled the #07 behind the wall on Lap 142, then was declared out by NASCAR with 79 to go in regulation. Playoff contender Chandler Smith was the first of his group to find trouble when overheating issues forced his #16 Quick Tie Products, Inc. Chevrolet pulled behind the wall just short of the 200-lap mark to save the engine. This ended Smith’s “must-win” bid at the Championship Four. Ryan Sieg made to two RSS cars in the Bottom Five due to late-race steering issues on the #39 while 34th went to J.J. Yeley after his #4 Old House Life Chevrolet had a hard crash with Ryan Ellis off Turn 4.

Heartbreak for Perkins, but Alfredo, Burton, Caruth, and McLaughlin capitalize

After leading practice and running inside the Top 10 for much of the final stage, Blaine Perkins took the white flag in 10th place, just under 1.2 seconds back of the leader. Instead, he was collected in the massive pileup triggered by the Playoff contenders up front. Perkins car ended up pointed backwards against the inside wall just 100 feet or so from the finish line, dropping him to a disappointing 22nd. 

When the smoke cleared, a few other drivers did earn solid finishes, though some were spinning across the finish line as they did. Among these was Anthony Alfredo, whose #78 Chevrolet carried race sponsor Dead On Tools. Alfredo was sideways across the stripe ahead of 9th-place Jeb Burton, who after starting in the back slammed the inside wall flush with the passenger side. Like Perkins, both drivers walked away uninjured.

Just behind the Top 10 came Layne Riggs, who overcame a spin to finish 11th in his #11 Infinity Communications Group Chevrolet. Rajah Caruth’s last start of the year for Alpha Prime Racing saw him take 12th after starting 26th on the grid in the #44 Virginia State Chevrolet, tying Caruth’s series-best run in this same race last year. And on a rough evening for RSS Racing, C.J. McLaughlin came back from mid-race overheating issues to take 13th - tied for the second-best run of his own XFINITY career – in the #28 Sci Aps Ford.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first XFINITY Series last-place finish for the #29 since October 4, 2014, when Milka Duno’s #29 CanTV Toyota crashed after 3 laps around Kansas in what was her series debut.

*This was the first last-place finish of the season for RSS Racing.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #29-Kyle Sieg / 40 laps / crash

37) #07-Devin Jones / 131 laps / engine

36) #16-Chandler Smith / 187 laps / crash

35) #39-Ryan Sieg / 203 laps / steering

34) #4-J.J. Yeley / 207 laps / crash

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) SS-Green Light Racing (4)

2nd) Alpha Prime Racing, Emerling-Gase Motorsports, Motorsports Business Management (3)

3rd) Big Machine Racing, CHK Racing, DGM Racing, JD Motorsports (2)

4th) AM Racing, B.J. McLeod Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, JR Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, Our Motorsports, RSS Racing, Sam Hunt Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (23)

2nd) Ford (5)

3rd) Toyota (4)

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP