Tucker, Georgia’s Ryan Sieg has long been known as an underdog driver, who has supreme talent. Unfortunately, his equipment never really matched his skill level through the majority of his career.
That has all begun to change over the last couple of seasons as RSS Racing has dedicated themselves to building more and more competitive cars. The team has snagged sponsorship funding and they forged a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing in 2019, and it resulted in a surprising Playoff bid for Sieg a season ago.
In 2019, the team leaned heavily on veteran crew chief Shane Wilson who had joined the organization. But when Wilson bolted from the team in the offseason, there was concern that perhaps RSS Racing would take a step back this year.
However, in stepped Kevin “Cowboy” Starland as the new crew chief for Sieg.
Fast forward to March of 2020, and Sieg doesn’t simply look like a Playoff contender, he looks like an out-right championship contender.
The 32-year old driver has garnered attention through the first three races of the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, as he has scored back-to-back finishes of third and fourth at Las Vegas and Auto Club Speedway.
“This CMR Chevrolet wasn’t the best at the start, we just kept adjusting on it all day,” said Sieg after his latest top-five in California. “A big shoutout to the ECR [Earnhardt-Childress Racing] power and that was a lot to do with it today. And all the guys at the shop, big Mike, Cowboy, and the whole entire team we all get in there and fight after each week and it’s paying off. We’ve had some good strong runs here – just [need] to continue to keep building on it.”
In addition to his impressive run through the West Coast Swing so far, Sieg finished ninth at the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway.
In just three races, Sieg has already tied his career-high amount of top-fives in a season (two) and he has a staggering average finish of 5.3. The only driver with a better average finish in the Series at this point in the season is Harrison Burton (2.7).
If Sieg, who currently sits fourth in the point standings, can continue to hang around in the top-five, he should find himself in victory lane this season. If he wins a race, or more, Sieg will be worrying some folks in the garage that are battling for the title.
