Ryan Sieg drives for RSS Racing and had been winless in the O'Reilly Series for years, and that wait ended in overtime at Daytona International Speedway, where he passed the two cars that started ahead of him on the final restart to win the Winn-Dixie 250 Powered by Coca-Cola.
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Sieg had accumulated five second-place finishes without a win in the series. This time, a two-tire pit stop put him back among the top five with little time remaining, and a caution with one lap to go forced the race into overtime. On the restart, Sieg started from the outside of the second row and within a few car lengths passed Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier, teammates at JR Motorsports who had started on the front row.
Austin Hill finished just over a tenth of a second behind, unable to catch the No. 38 car in the final stretch. Hill still accumulated important points heading into the Chase that begins next week.
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Kvapil was looking to become the first driver to win three consecutive races just after getting his first wins in the series, something no one had ever accomplished, and he came up one lap short. He led for 50 of the 105 laps, more than any other competitor on track, but the final caution denied him the opportunity.
The caution that sent the race to overtime came from a spin by Rajah Caruth, who lost control on lap 97 after contact with his teammate Justin Allgaier's car, as Allgaier was trying to push him in the draft. That incident opened the door for Sieg to fight for his first win in the series. Caruth said he didn't believe Allgaier had done it on purpose and that the outcome weighed on him immediately.
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The Winn-Dixie 250 also closed out the regular season and awarded the final available spots for the Chase, the final round that will decide the 2026 championship. Caruth had arrived at Daytona 15 points below the cutoff line and reversed it with a second-place finish in stage 1 and a victory in stage 2, which gave him 19 stage points and left him ahead of his teammates William Sawalich and Brent Crews by five and six points, respectively.
A crash on lap 27, which ended the first stage early, caused different levels of damage to three cars fighting for a Chase spot. Crews took his car to the garage with severe damage and lost any chance of advancing; he returned to the track 31 laps down after a radiator change and finished 35th. Sam Mayer and Sawalich managed to continue despite the same incident, though for Sawalich the relief was short-lived.
On lap 44, contact from Anthony Alfredo with Corey Day's car triggered a multi-car crash that took Sawalich out of the race and with it his championship hopes. Taylor Gray of Joe Gibbs Racing, who was just outside the playoff picture when the night began, avoided the incident and finished 26th, a result good enough to secure one of the final spots.
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Sawalich, who had cut 45 points in the final weeks to get above the cutoff line, finished 37th and was eliminated from title contention. Crews, who is running his first full season in the series and turned 18 in March, missed four of the first seven races due to age restrictions and finished just six points short of advancing. Crews himself said that losing 20 points at Iowa ended up making the difference in the final outcome.
Sam Mayer arrived at Daytona with enough of a cushion to secure the 10th Chase spot and held onto it despite the contact his car suffered in the lap 27 crash. Gray, on the other hand, said it was hard to accept arriving at the final race of the regular season in that position, though he expressed confidence in the remaining tracks on the Chase schedule.
The 12 Chase qualifiers are: Allgaier, Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, Jesse Love, Hill, Brandon Jones, Corey Day, Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Mayer, Gray, and Caruth. Crews and Sawalich, who arrived at Daytona inside the cutoff line, were eliminated from title contention in the final race of the regular season.
With the points reset for the start of the Chase, Allgaier leads Kvapil by 25 points.
Sieg said he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders, thanked his family and his team, and recalled that the pole he earned the previous race came just days before this first victory.
The O'Reilly Series continues next week at Darlington Raceway, with the Fleetio 200 as the first stop of the 2026 Chase.
Winn Dixie 250 2026
| Pos | Nº | driver | team | brand | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #38 |  Ryan Sieg |
RSS Racing | Chevrolet | - |
| 2 | #21 | Austin Hill |
Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | +0.15s |
| 3 | #1 | Carson Kvapil |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +0.16s |
| 4 | #96 | Anthony Alfredo |
Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | +0.24s |
| 5 | #20 | Brandon Jones |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +0.25s |
| 6 | #7 | Justin Allgaier |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +0.33s |
| 7 | #44 | Brennan Poole |
Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | +0.37s |
| 8 | #24 | Harrison Burton |
Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | +0.47s |
| 9 | #27 | Jeb Burton |
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport | Chevrolet | +0.47s |
| 10 | #00 | Sheldon Creed |
Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | +0.54s |
| 11 | #92 | Josh Williams |
DGM Racing x JIM | Chevrolet | +0.56s |
| 12 | #0 | Garrett Smithley |
SS GreenLight Racing | Chevrolet | +0.57s |
| 13 | #71 | Leland Honeyman Jr(i) |
DGM Racing x JIM | Chevrolet | +0.61s |
| 14 | #99 | Parker Retzlaff |
Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | +0.75s |
| 15 | #31 | Blaine Perkins |
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport | Chevrolet | +0.77s |
| 16 | #87 | Nick Sanchez |
Peterson Racing Group | Chevrolet | +0.82s |
| 17 | #02 | Ryan Ellis |
Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | +1.15s |
| 18 | #45 | Lavar Scott # |
Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | +1.17s |
| 19 | #91 | Mason Maggio |
DGM Racing x JIM | Chevrolet | +1.38s |
| 20 | #2 | Jesse Love |
Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | +1.96s |
| 21 | #28 | Kyle Sieg |
RSS Racing | Chevrolet | +2.21s |
| 22 | #42 | Natalie Decker(i) |
Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | +2.24s |
| 23 | #55 | Joey Gase |
Joey Gase Motorsports | Chevrolet | +2.49s |
| 24 | #53 | Carson Ware |
Joey Gase Motorsports | Chevrolet | +4.58s |
| 25 | #41 | Sam Mayer |
Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | +8.94s |
| 26 | #54 | Taylor Gray |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +11.38s |
| 27 | #26 | Dean Thompson |
Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | +13.47s |
| 28 | #07 | Josh Bilicki |
SS GreenLight Racing | Chevrolet | +1 vuelta |
| 29 | #17 | Corey Day |
Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | +1 vuelta |
| 30 | #39 | Andy Jankowiak |
RSS Racing | Ford | +2 vueltas |
| 31 | #4 | Caesar Bacarella |
Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | +2 vueltas |
| 32 | #88 | Rajah Caruth |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +2 vueltas |
| 33 | #51 | Jeremy Clements |
Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | +11 vueltas |
| 34 | #48 | Patrick Staropoli # |
Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | +32 vueltas |
| 35 | #19 | Brent Crews # |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +44 vueltas |
| 36 | #8 | Sammy Smith |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +61 vueltas |
| 37 | #18 | William Sawalich |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +61 vueltas |
| 38 | #32 | Daniel Dye(i) |
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport | Chevrolet | +78 vueltas |
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Carlos Castillo Sansabas
Upcoming Races
Drivers Standings 2026
| POS | PILOTO | PTS | ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesse Love | 2367 | arrow_up1 |
| 2 | Justin Allgaier | 2331 | arrow_up2 |
| 3 | Corey Day | 2328 | |
| 4 | Sheldon Creed | 2308 | arrow_down3 |
| 5 | Carson Kvapil | 2288 | |
| 6 | Sam Mayer | 2281 | |
| 7 | Sammy Smith | 2230 | arrow_up2 |
| 8 | Taylor Gray | 2226 | arrow_down1 |
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