RSS Racing allies with SHR, plans expansion for 2022

RSS Racing began the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season as a two-car team, then shrank to a one-car team, but will return to a multi-car operation in 2022. On Thursday, RSS announced they have formed a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing for next season, along with retaining full-time primary sponsor CMR Construction & Roofing and an engine partnership with Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines.

After racing with Chevrolet for their entire history, RSS switched to Ford in 2021. The team began the year with the regular #39 of owner/driver Ryan Sieg and the #23 for multiple drivers like Jason White and Natalie Decker in an alliance with Truck Series organisation Reaume Brothers Racing. The latter was sold to Our Motorsports in March when Our’s second car, the #03, began to be locked out of the grid for non-qualifying events despite having two-time champion Tyler Reddick behind the wheel due to qualifying being rained out.

With Our assuming control of the #23 and switching its make to Chevrolet, RSS returned to a one-car stable with Sieg. Sieg is currently fourteenth in points with seven top tens, two top fives, and a best finish of fifth in both top-five runs.

Ford does not have a major Xfinity presence in terms of cars, with the RSS #39 being one of just three full-time Mustangs alongside SHR’s #98 of Riley Herbst and Team Penske‘s #22 of Austin Cindric. However, quantity does not guarantee quality, as evidenced by Cindric being in the hunt for his second consecutive series championship.

“This is a huge step for our team to return with Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines, along with the addition of a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Sieg. “I’m very excited and looking forward to next season.”

Throughout their history, RSS fielded a bevy of other multi-driver cars besides the #39. In 2020, the #39 was joined by the #93 which was primarily piloted by Myatt Snider, along with the part-time #38 as a start-and-park car. The team did not specify in Thursday’s announcement how many cars would be added, their numbers, or their drivers, though the SHR partnership could provide them with new options from that camp.

RSS is the second new ally for SHR in 2022. In the Cup Series, the team has forged a new deal with Rick Ware Racing.