FONTANA, Calif.: Wake up America, Ryan Sieg is knocking on the door.
The RSS Racing driver collected his third straight top-10 finish to kick-off the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season with an impressive fourth-place effort in Saturday afternoon’s Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway.
More impressively, Sieg notched back-to-back top-five finishes in the first two races of the West Coast Swing on the heels of a third-place finish in the rain-postponed Boyd Gaming 300 last weekend.
Drafting a ninth-place finish in the season-opening race at Daytona, Sieg carries an average finish of 5.3 heading to Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway next weekend – but the team’s efforts led by crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland have the family-owned team knocking on the door and ready to sweep off the powerhouse organizations with a trip to Victory Lane.
Sieg’s seventh-career top-five finish in 205 races didn’t come easy though. Sieg started eighth but struggled with the handling of his No. 39 CMR Roofing & Construction Chevrolet throughout the first two stages.
While collecting valuable stage points, seventh and ninth overall in the first two stages, Sieg’s came to life when it counted most during Stage 3.
“This CMR Chevrolet wasn’t the best at the start, we just kept adjusting on it all day,” said Sieg. “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.”
Before the race, Sieg told CATCHFENCE.com that he contributed the team’s success to being able to strengthen the team’s fleet of race cars – most of which have come from the Richard Childress Racing stables.
Fourth in the championship standings, 26 points behind leader Harrison Burton, the Tucker, Ga. native heads to Phoenix looking to better his track-best 10th place finish earned at the 1.0-mile oval last spring.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
