Sammy Smith Makes Xfinity Playoffs As Sieg Falls Short

Ryan Sieg (foreground) missed the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, while Sammy Smith was the last driver to qualify for the postseason. (John Harrelson/NKP photo)

BRISTOL, Tenn. – There was both relief and inevitable heartbreak Friday night after the checkered flag waved over the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season finale.

With a nondescript 15th-place finish, Sammy Smith could breathe easier after securing the 12th and final playoff berth on points, while the man chasing him – Ryan Sieg – fell short of qualifying for the postseason.

Coming in needing to make up 44 points in order to overhaul Smith in the playoff standings, Sieg started the Food City 300 in a virtual must-win situation with his No. 39 SciAps Ford Mustang.

Unfortunately for the Tucker, Ga., native, his car never quite had that kind of speed all night long at The Last Great Colosseum.

Though Sieg led five laps by staying out on strategy at the first stage break and averaged a top-10 running position all night long, his car wasn’t handling well in traffic and he could only muster an eighth-place finish when all was said and done.

It left him 36 points short of the threshold he needed to secure his fifth career playoff appearance, though one could argue the margin was truly .002 seconds, after Sieg was edged out for the win by Sam Mayer at Texas Motor Speedway in April after leading at the white flag.

Had he won that race, Sieg would have had an automatic berth into the playoffs, but he noted after climbing from his car at Bristol that it “just wasn’t meant to be” for him this time around.

“You go back to Texas [as the obvious moment where the playoffs got away], but there were a few races where we let some points slip,” Sieg reflected. “All in all, it was a great year, and we have nothing to hang our heads about. We still have some races to go win. That’s the goal and that was our goal this year. We’ve had shots to do it; we’ve just got to execute everything.

“We’ve worked hard all year and had a fast SciAps Ford Mustang each week, it’s just that sometimes we didn’t capitalize on the points and other times I messed up,” he added. “We come out of here with a top 10 [finish] though and now we just have to continue that momentum and try to win some races here at the end so we can roll into next year strong.”

Smith, meanwhile, had to scratch, claw, and gouge in order to finish off his second straight playoff appearance. He was rarely a factor all night at Bristol and barely finished on the lead lap at the end.

The Johnston, Iowa, young gun ended the regular season with four finishes of 15th or worse in the final seven races, and he had to live life on the playoff bubble for multiple weeks after slipping into the last spot in during that stretch.

His recent stall in performance has been a source of frustration for the 20-year-old, who finished sixth in points last year with Joe Gibbs Racing but has struggled to replicate any of that same success at JR Motorsports.

Sammy Smith in action Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

“It’s been a real grind the last couple of months, and we’ve just really struggled here and there,” Smith noted. “We’ve hit it right a couple of times, but this was one of those rough nights again where we couldn’t get things where we needed them to be. We’re really going to have to dig deep to get better.

“Hopefully we can figure things out; it’s cool to be in the playoffs, but we have to push and improve. This is a reset … but we still have to run a lot better than we have been.”

While Smith is hoping his improvement comes immediately, Sieg has seven races left with which to begin preparing for the 2025 Xfinity Series season.

“We’ve got some things in the works. We should improve next year,” he said. “We have most of our same group next year, and then we’ll add a few more. The next step is probably trying to focus more on all the little things [necessary for success] on our car. That’s probably where we’re getting beat a little bit, is just the little things that we’ve got to clean up.

“We should be able to run with the power teams if we can execute everything and contend for race [win]s week in and week out. We’ve just got to keep digging.”

Smith goes into the postseason as the No. 11 seed, starting off the seven-race stretch nine points below the cut line to advance to round two.

That, he said, means his team can’t afford to continue showing like they have been if they want to contend very long for an Xfinity Series championship.

“This is kind of like a reset, but at the same time, we just have to run better overall. That’s the end goal if we’re going to contend to make it to Phoenix. We just have to strive to make bigger strides pretty quickly.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs begin with the Kansas Lottery 300 – the first race in the Round of 12 – on Saturday, Sept. 28, with live coverage on CW Network, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.