When Kyle Sieg committed to a full-time O’Reilly Auto Parts Series campaign in 2023, he entered unfamiliar territory, learning on the fly as he adjusted to one of NASCAR’s most competitive levels.
Three years later, Sieg has seen growth both internally and externally within the No. 28 team.
“A lot because you are always racing with good people,” Sieg told Jayski.com of his development. “Everybody in this O’Reilly Series is good. People may not see that and they might be with underfunded teams, but they are still good drivers, anywhere from first to 28th. Everybody is pretty good and there aren’t any slouches.”
New for Sieg in 2026 was RSS Racing relocating its operations four hours north to Charlotte, joining Haas Factory Team as an affiliate for both of its full time entries. The move gives the No. 28 team access to similar resources as RSS’ flagship No. 39 entry, driven primarily by Ryan Sieg, which has operated in-house at HFT for several seasons under a technical alliance.
Kyle is already seeing the benefits of the transition, even if it requires an eight-hour round trip from his Georgia home at least once per month to get work done on the Chevrolet simulator.
“It was good to be right beside my brother,” Kyle stated. “In 2025, we were in Georgia and it just makes it a little easier getting parts and bodies. You want to do better, which we have, but some of the results aren’t there to prove that we have done better. We may run there at points during the race, but we need to run 10th to 15th.”
Former JR Motorsports engineer Aedan McHugh joined RSS Racing in 2026 after a one-year stint at Cope Family Racing, taking the reins as Kyle’s crew chief. Having worked with some of the series’ top talent, McHugh has seen maturation in Sieg since the start of the season, with additional resources helping accelerate the driver’s development, as he didn’t strap into a race car until 2019.
“I really feel like he has the potential to break through,” McHugh said of Kyle. “I wish this year had gone better. We kept getting snakebit by bad luck. If I look back through the year, our points situation is not great.
“I feel like we’ve had the speed to be top 20 in points. We can put two-thirds of a race together like a son of a bitch. It’s frustrating.”
McHugh works closely with Matt Noyce, who oversees the No. 39 team. With the No. 28 entry now operating out of Haas Factory Team’s campus, RSS Racing has gained access to a wealth of experience to support Kyle’s development. Four RSS employees are dedicated exclusively to the program, while eight Haas employees oversee the three affiliated cars. Both RSS entries and Jeremy Clements’ No. 51 Chevrolet are housed in a separate shop across campus.
“They are brothers, they are best friends – that’s how family is,” McHugh added. “But I feel like they can talk in the same language about the same cars now. If we try a bump stop or a shock, that feedback actually means something to Ryan now.”
Optimism continues to increase within Kyle, and those around him have noticed the difference. With 145 series starts since making his debut at Dover Motor Speedway in 2021, he has become more comfortable behind the wheel and more confident in his feedback, allowing him to provide the team with greater detail and insight during debriefs.
“I feel like he’s just got confidence,” McHugh stated. “Before, he was just kind of out there, logging laps because he wouldn’t charge the entry and make it move and he would ho-hum on his comments. But now that he’s been driving – I don’t mean this in a negative way against the Georgia shop – professionally-prepared cars for the full year, I think he’s gotten decisive with his feedback and has confidence in what he’s feeling with the car.”
Kyle still leans heavily on Ryan, who captured his first checkered flag two months ago at Daytona International Speedway after 423 starts, for advice.
“He has aged me to where I need to be and always ask him questions,” Kyle added. “The experience with him always helps, but you still have to go out and do it on your own. I’ve done a good job of that, but there’s a lot of variables in racing. It’s not always about the driver. It’s about pit crews, everybody working on your race car. The funding aspect is tough. To be running with the best, you need a good budget.”
With two races remaining in the 2026 campaign, Kyle ranks 24th in the championship standings, only ahead of Josh Bilicki and Ryan Ellis of full-time competitors. His two top-10 finishes are a new career benchmark, however.
“There’s some things we need to clean up to get to where my brother is running,” Kyle admitted. “We’re getting better as a team and Aedan is adapting. We’re getting better, me and him, and we’ll keep trying to get better.”
Expectations have risen for Sieg and the No. 28 program. McHugh brought multiple familiar faces from Cope Family Racing’s No. 70 team with him to RSS, further strengthening the group. With additional resources and a trusted crew in place, McHugh’s expectations for the program have climbed considerably.
“I think those guys and Kyle are in the same boat where what would have been a good day last year is now a disappointment,” McHugh said.” If you go to a mile-and-a-half and run 18th, that would have been pizza, beers and celebrating. Now, you’re just like, ‘[expletive], I wish I had that last pit stop back.’ It’s kind of cool because, yeah, you’re disappointed but you look back on it and 12 months ago, I would have been pretty pumped about this.”
The series heads to Martinsville Speedway this weekend, where Sieg has recorded two 21st-place finishes in seven career starts.