Ryan Sieg led two laps at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night. They were laps 104 and 105, the last two of the race.
It was Sieg's 424th start in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, NASCAR's second national series, one rung below the Cup Series. He had never won any of the other 423.
He is 39, from Tucker, Georgia, and he owns the team he drives for. Until Friday night he held a record that counts nothing but near misses.
The list he was on
NASCAR publishes a table for this. It is headed "Most runner-up finishes without a win all-time," and Sieg was at the top of it, with five second-place finishes in 423 starts. Stacy Compton is next, with four in 173.
Sieg had shared that top line with Carson Kvapil, who had five seconds of his own. Sieg's five came in 423 starts. Kvapil's came in 63. Then Kvapil won at Indianapolis in July, came off the list, and won again at Iowa three weeks ago, and Sieg had the record to himself.
On Friday night Kvapil led 50 laps, including every one from 67 through 103. He was a lap from a third straight win.
Two tires
Sieg pitted late and took two tires instead of four, trading grip on the track for time in the pits. He came out fourth.
He was still fourth when a caution flew with one lap of regulation left. Rajah Caruth, who had started from the pole, was running second and got turned by contact from Justin Allgaier, his JR Motorsports teammate, who was pushing him in the draft.
NASCAR restarted the race for a two-lap overtime, and it finished on lap 105 instead of 100. Sieg lined up on the outside of the second row, cleared Kvapil and Allgaier on the restart lap, and held the lead to the flag. He beat Austin Hill to the line by 0.149 seconds. Kvapil finished third.
"This is incredible, unbelievable, especially doing it here at Daytona," Sieg said, according to the NASCAR Wire Service, which reported that his brother Kyle hugged him as he spoke. Kyle drove another RSS Racing car in the same race and finished 21st.
"This has been a long time coming," Sieg said.
Anthony Alfredo finished fourth and Brandon Jones fifth. Allgaier was sixth. There were 21 lead changes among 11 drivers. The series races at Darlington Raceway on September 5.
What the win did not do
Friday was the last race of the regular season. The top 12 drivers in points advance to the Chase, the series postseason, and the field was set when the race ended.
Sieg is not in it. He finished 15th on points with 569, 37 behind Caruth, who took the last spot on 606. Caruth got there by six points over Brent Crews and five over William Sawalich, both of whom were running inside the top 10 on Friday until separate wrecks ended their nights.
NASCAR's pre-race notes listed eight drivers as already locked into the Chase and six more racing for the four spots that were left. Sieg was on neither list.
In July, Carson Kvapil got off that list by winning. On Friday, Ryan Sieg got off it by beating him.