Ryan Ellis never gave up on the sport he loves and because of that, he achieved one of his biggest dreams on Saturday.
The Ashburn, VA native, who plays beer-league hockey and passionately roots for the Washington Capitals in his spare time, scored his first career top 10 in a race after 13 years of plugging his way in NASCAR.
Steering the no. 71 Zeroes Beverage Chevrolet for DGM Racing, Ellis drove his way to ninth in overtime of the BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He later jumped up one spot to eighth after JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith was disqualified after post-race inspection for his car failing to meet post-race weight requirements.
Ellis, who started the race 30th, benefitted from running long on his pit strategy in the final stage and getting a perfectly-timed caution. After fading some in the proceeding restarts, Ellis moved back into the top 10 after a late-race crash collected several cars ahead of him during the final lap. The top 10 came in his 143rd career start in NASCAR per MotorsportsStats.com.
“Well I cried basically from there before I crossed the line,” Ellis said per Toby Christie. “And Tab was yelling at me to cross the line. So I think, I don’t know how many starts I have. I stopped looking, but I know I hated looking at my Racing Reference page. And I care about this crap way more than I wish I did. So just really, really happy to be here and be part of DGM Racing, man. I’ve had really, really good cars. And I felt like I’ve let them down a few times, the same thing at Alpha Prime. But I don’t know. I can’t, I’m not good at speaking generally, but definitely not right now.”
Longtime sponsor and supporter, Audio Video Specialists, snapped a photo of Ellis as he removed his helmet and unstrapped out of the car. Ellis had an oh my god I can’t believe it face — his eyes red from all the sobbing.
Broadcasters on the CW telecast, including Adam Alexander and drivers Jamie McMurray and Parker Kligerman, began applauding on-air for Ellis when his finish was made official by NASCAR.
“Honestly, I think about [a top 10] every race,” Ellis said. “You know, like, ‘Oh, maybe this will be the day we’ll land. Me and the wife will go out and do something.’ But it’s really, really cool. I got my daughter here. My dad’s excited. It feels like a win. I know it shouldn’t. Because I wish it was more.”
Ellis’s previous career high finish was 11th, which he did twice at two superspeedways: the United Rentals 300 at Daytona in 2024 and the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega in 2023.
“I feel like I body checked somebody or somebody body checked me,” Ellis said. “I don’t drink often, but I’m definitely going to drink tonight. Obviously, Drink Zero is the first race of them, and I don’t know. I wish I had better things to say. I just feel like a big weight’s been lifted off.”
Ellis tweeted a photo on X of the scoring pylon showing his top 10. He also posted a message thanking his sponsors and supporters.
“I don’t really know what to tweet yet. Man. What a day. I feel like we really EARNED this,” he wrote. “It’s been a ride to this point. I never thought I’d get to NASCAR and definitely didn’t think it’d take this long to get a top-10. I’m really happy we got to earn it at a slicked off racetrack, instead of backing into it, or attrition putting us in this spot.
“I’ll have more intelligent things to say later. But THANK GOD WE HAVE A TOP 10,” he added. “Oh and I cried before I even got to the start finish line. Because of course.”
Full disclosure: Ryan Ellis is a good friend of mine and RMNB has been a sponsor of his in the past, including being his main sponsor at a Dover Xfinity race in 2016.
