BROOKLYN, Mich. – After Mother Nature forced series officials to red flag the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday (Aug. 17), the field was set for a green-white-checkered overtime finish.
Justin Allgaier won, but the crowd became noisier after a scary last-lap crash on the backstretch that saw Kyle Sieg’s No. 28 flip upside down.
“Shaping up to be a good finish there for me, and we got some stage points there in stage one and was just hoping we could have a good finish,” Sieg told reporters after he was released from the infield care center. “You know how the green-white-checkers go. Pretty much going to get destroyed, but that’s what really happened from the backstretch like I said.
“I was behind the No. 48 and, I don’t know, they were all pushing, and the No. 45 got out of control and the No. 42, I don’t know. I hit the No. 48, and the No. 42 — I guess — just never lifted. From that I was turning into the infield, and so I closed my eyes when I was about to flip upside down. It was a scary ride. Glad I’m alright. Knocked the wind out of me there. Just glad I’m alright.”
Sieg has 69 career starts plus 20 in the ARCA Menards Series platform, yet it was the first time he ever flipped upside down in a racecar. It definitely shook him up.
“It just kept rolling upside down,” Sieg said. “I was hoping it was going to stop. Thought I was going to land upside down. Luckily it landed just upright. Got a little pain in my right arm right now and hopefully it’ll be alright. That’s about it. Just got the wind knocked out of me and closed my eyes. That’s when I was going upside down, that was a big one and that’s about it.”
The NXS race featured the speedway package which is used at other drafting-style racetracks such as Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The different style racing didn’t directly lead to the scary situation for Sieg though.
“Right now, I’d probably say I wish we’d gone to the high horsepower,” he continued. “It mixes it up, but you get to pack racing. You know, green-white-checkered, it’s going to happen. Someone’s going to get wrecked when you don’t lift, and that’s the result.”
Curiously, the roof flaps did not deploy on Sieg’s No. 28 Ford. Although the wreck was frightening, Sieg was unsure about it.
“Once I knew the car was about to go upside down, I closed my eyes,” Sieg said. “I guess the air just got under the car. I guess the roof flaps are supposed to secure the car down and not fly up, but I don’t know, I’ve got to see a replay.”
After his racecar arrived in the garage, series officials inspected the roof flaps.
Fortunately for Sieg, he was just shaken up, and hopefully his pain is not long-lasting or serious. And despite the 28th-place DNF, he managed to walk away from a scary crash in the Mitten State.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.