NEWTON, Iowa – After another promising NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, Ryan Sieg ended up coming home empty-handed once again.
Sieg was involved in an overtime restart crash during Saturday’s (August 8) Hy-Vee Perks 250 at Iowa Speedway after the veteran driver started on pole for the first time in his career and won the opening stage of the event.
Sieg led 65 laps in total, but he was not able to hold the lead after getting beat off pit road on multiple occasions.
“All the [NASCAR Cup Series] affiliated teams have all their Cup crews come down, so we have a bunch of guys that are mismatched.” Sieg told Frontstretch at the infield care center. “It was going to be tough, but we kind of knew that coming down pit road.”
The Georgia native worked his way into the top five in the closing laps of the race as it looked like he would earn his first top-five finish since the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway back in February.
That all changed after a caution came out with under five laps to go, bunching the field back up, with Sieg finding himself restarting on the bottom of the second row.
Heading into turn 1, Sieg was put three-wide in the middle by Brent Crews, who restarted a row behind him. Crews slipped up the race track and got into Sieg, which triggered a multi-car crash that also involved Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer and more.
Ultimately, Sieg finished 33rd as he pulled his wrecked No. 39 Chevrolet behind the wall before the race’s final restart.
“I guess the [No.] 19 was trying to win it going into [turn] 1 with three to go,” Sieg said. “The good days this year have been few and far-between for us, so we get taken out by some idiot.”
“We just got loose in, ultimately we were just racing hard there, trying to race for a win,” Crews told Frontstretch after the race. “Just got a little loose and got collected.”
Sieg’s result in Iowa mathematically eliminated him from Chase contention as he sits 84 points behind Crews, who currently holds the 12th and final spot. However, Sieg will attempt to rebound and finish the NOAPS regular season strong at Daytona on Friday, Aug. 28.
“With Hendrick power and Chevrolet behind us, we’re pretty good at the speedways,” Sieg said. “Just got to be there at the end.”
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.