Hand Returns To NASCAR With RSS Portland Xfinity Drive

Joey Hand at the Chicago Street Race in 2024. (Danny Hansen/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

PORTLAND, Ore. – After nearly shocking the NASCAR Cup Series field in last year’s Chicago (Ill.) Street Race, renowned road-racing star Joey Hand is ready to step back up to the plate in stock-car racing, this time in NASCAR’s second-tier division.

Hand will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland Int’l Raceway, driving the No. 28 Ford Mustang for RSS Racing.

The 46-year-old brings a wealth of road racing expertise to the RSS stable, as his ranges from the highest ranks of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, two titles in the Star Mazda Series (now USF Pro 2000 Championship), and the 2011 American Le Mans Series GT Class championship.

Along the way, Hand has also accrued 24 Hours of Daytona class wins in 2011 (DP and overall) and 2017 (GTLM) with Chip Ganassi Racing, two 12 Hours of Sebring class wins (2001, 2012), and a victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro class in 2016.

The move is a strategic one for RSS Racing, as they will attempt to get Hand to victory lane and put their No. 28 Ford Mustang into the Xfinity Series owner playoffs in the process, as regular driver Kyle Sieg steps out of the entry for the weekend.

Kyle Sieg, the normal driver of the RSS Racing No. 28, will not be behind the wheel of that car this weekend in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. (Logan Riely/Getty Images for NASCAR photo)

It isn’t the first time that Kyle Sieg has bowed out for a road course event to help the No. 28 entry on the points side, as Kaz Grala attempted to qualify the car at Circuit of the Americas back in March, but failed to put the car in the field on speed.

The most notable driver shift for the No. 28 came in 2023, when past Cup Series winner Aric Almirola hoisted RSS’ first Xfinity Series trophy in the inaugural series race at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.

To preserve his full-time effort in points, the younger Sieg brother will drive the No. 53 Chevrolet for Joey Gase Motorsports, which has seen a total of nine drivers take the wheel so far this season.

Saturday will be far from Hand’s first time racing at a high level in stock cars. He has also dabbled in an array of part-time NASCAR Cup Series starts, dating back to 2021, when he finished 27th in his premier series debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in a Ford Mustang prepared by Rick Ware Racing.

The Sacramento, Calif., product and longtime Ford factory pilot became the designated road course ringer for RWR in 2022, driving in all six road course events on the calendar, collecting a best finish of 20th at Sonoma.

But Hand took a year off professionally after that, and wouldn’t return to racing until 2024, when he drove the new pristine Ford Mustang GT3 Dark Horse for Multimatic Motorsports in a return to IMSA.

It was also during this time that Hand made his return to Cup Series competition in a one-off race with RFK Racing at the Chicago Street Course, where he narrowly missed out on the victory after collecting the stage two win before eventual race winner Alex Bowman passed Hand with eight laps to go.

Though Hand was relegated to a fourth-place finish, it still stands as his Cup Series best to this point.

Hand looks to rekindle that spark on Saturday afternoon in the Beaver State, when the Xfinity Series embarks on what might be the last visit for the tour for the foreseeable future to the 1.967-mile, 12-turn natural road course.

Coverage of the fourth annual Pacific Office Automation 147 airs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.