O’REILLY: Kyle Sieg swept up in early Atlanta pileup after aggressive move by Corey Day
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Kyle Sieg picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career in Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at the EchoPark Speedway when his #28 Big House Construction Chevrolet was collected in a multi-car accident after 4 of 163 laps.
The finish, which came in Sieg’s 116th series start, was his first of the season and first in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race since November 4, 2023 at Phoenix, 68 races ago. In the O’Reilly series standings, it was the 17th for the #28, the 416th from a crash, and the 681st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 45th for the #28, the 1,445th from a crash, and the 2,207th for Chevrolet.
When Kyle Sieg was last featured here, he’d clinched a particularly competitive LASTCAR O’Reilly Series Championship that swung so quickly that he claimed it by simply finishing last in each of the season’s final two races. This coincided with Kyle’s first full season in the series after competing in an increasing number of races against his older brother Ryan Sieg in the flagship #39. It was also his second-straight season with at least one top-ten finish, a streak he continued through last season. All four have taken place on the superspeedways, including both the 2023 and 2025 summer races on this reconfigured Atlanta track, starting with a career-best 7th. Kyle has also become an increasingly regular presence in the Top 20, particularly on the larger ovals. And last season’s finale at Phoenix saw him drive past big brother Ryan in his own car after Ryan picked up a one-off ride with the Haas Factory Team, replacing a suspended Sam Mayer.
Just last week in Daytona, RSS Racing entered and qualified three cars into the season opener with Kyle and Ryan joined by modified ace Patrick Emerling in the #38. All three finished in the Top 15 with Ryan challenging for the lead before settling into 3rd. For this week’s race in Atlanta, RSS Racing scaled back from three cars to their two primaries, leaving Emerling’s #38 in the shop. For Kyle, this would mark his third race carrying local sponsor Big House Construction on his black-and-yellow Chevrolet. The pairing debuted at Atlanta the previous June, where Kyle finished 9th, then returned at Talladega in October for a 15th-place showing. Without practice, he pulled onto the track 27th of the 39 entrants, then timed in 18th with a lap of 32.288 seconds (171.705mph). The lone team sent home was Mike Harmon Racing, which made its first attempt of 2026. Driver Dawson Cram turned in the slowest lap of 33.577 seconds (165.113mph) in the #74 Drowned Valley Brewing Company Chevrolet.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Nick Leitz, who climbed aboard Youngs Motorsports’ #42 Precision Measurements Inc. Chevrolet. Leitz was joined by four teams who incurred penalties for unapproved adjustments: 11th-place Justin Allgaier in the #7 Registix Chevrolet, 25th-place Jeb Burton in the #27 Sprayway Chevrolet, 30th-place Ross Chastain in the #32 Protect Your Melon Chevrolet, and 32nd-place Jeremy Clements in the #51 All South Electrical / One Stop Chevrolet. The field remained tightly packed until Lap 4, when Cody Ware fell to last in the #30 Jacob Companies Chevrolet after starting 36th on the starting grid. Eager to beat brother Carson Ware’s 19th-place showing in Daytona last week, Cody struggled early. That time by, he’d fallen 6.982 seconds back of the lead and well out of the draft of 37th-place Joah Bilicki’s #07 Chevrolet, a full 2.3 seconds ahead of him. At race’s end, Cody would only climb to 31st before his car dropped debris on the backstretch, signaling the end of his race with suspension issues.
On Lap 4, the Sieg brothers were running 10th and 16th with Ryan ahead of Kyle. Coming off Turn 4, Ryan was in the outside lane ahead of Corey Day’s #17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, who was alongside the #19 First Auto Group Toyota of Giovanni Ruggiero in the advancing inside lane. Near corner exit, Ryan’s car moved up and Day tried to thread the needle to his inside. But the hole quickly closed as Ruggiero moved up the track to Day’s left and Sieg moved to down to Day’s right. The collision flicked Ryan into the outside wall as both Day and Ruggiero became unstuck and continued down the track. Directly behind the crashing Sieg, Blaine Perkins’ #31 Werner Chevrolet tipped the rear bumper of Harrison Burton’s #24 AirBox Toyota before both collided with Ryan. Directly behind Perkins and Burton was Kyle Sieg, who veered to the left only to collide with the passenger side of Burton’s car.
All drivers were uninjured, but in his interview with Frontstretch.com, Ryan was upset at Day for forcing his way through the middle so early in the race. Kyle said the impact with Burton wasn’t too hard, but it crushed the water and oil lines, ending his race. Kyle was classified last behind his brother as the lowest-ranked of the cars involved, both unable to complete another lap after the crash. Perkins and Burton both made it to pit road, only to both be eliminated under the Damaged Vehicle Policy after turning two and four more laps, respectively. Completing the Bottom Five was Joey Gase, whose team’s difficult start to the season continued with an early engine failure on his #35 Stripes TV Chevrolet.
Several surprising drivers enter heated battle for the lead, but night belongs to Sheldon Creed
Saturday provided 163 laps of thrilling racing around the continuously evolving Atlanta track where drivers made bold moves on the edge of control. The night saw Parker Retzlaff equal his career-best 2nd-place finish from Rockingham last spring, this time in the #99 KYRO Whisky Chevrolet for Viking Motorsports. Defending race winner Nick Sanchez, now with AM Racing, also made several bids for the lead in the #25 Paynuity / Travel Curious Ford for his first top-five finish since last fall in Las Vegas. And polesitter Sam Mayer in the #41 Audibel Chevrolet came back from an unscheduled green-flag stop for a cut tire while battling Taylor Gray for the lead to get back on the lead lap and finish 7th – only to destroy the front of his car driving through the grass after the checkered flag.
But the night belonged to Sheldon Creed, who after a last-lap tangle between Austin Hill and Ross Chastain took the lead for a sixth time and 17th lap. After a frustrating 15 career runner-up finishes in an eight-year career with the likes of Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, and his current Haas Factory Team, Creed sped past to finally earn his first career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win in his 138th career start, ending one of the longest winless streaks in the series among active drivers. Congratulations to Creed and his team on this tremendous victory.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time that siblings finished in the bottom two positions of an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #28 in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race since March 3, 2018, when Dylan Lupton’s #28 thinQ Technology Partners Ford crashed after 5 laps at Las Vegas. The number had never finished last in an O’Reilly race at Atlanta.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #28-Kyle Sieg / 4 laps / crash
37) #39-Ryan Sieg / 4 laps / crash
36) #31-Blaine Perkins / 6 laps / dvp
35) #24-Harrison Burton / 8 laps / dvp
34) #35-Joey Gase / 39 laps / engine
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) DGM Racing x JIM, RSS Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (2)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
