|
Riley Herbst Notes of Interest |
|
• Riley Herbst aims to rise like a Phoenix Saturday at Phoenix Raceway. The driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang comes into the fifth race of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season looking to restart a sophomore campaign that has seen three DNFs (Did Not Finish) in the first four races. Herbst has been the victim of circumstance in each DNF, with a lone 11th-place finish two weeks ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway being his best result so far this year.
• Saturday’s Call 811 Before You Dig 200 presented by Arizona 811 will mark Herbst’s 48th career Xfinity Series start and his fourth at Phoenix. Herbst finished 10th and 11th, respectively, in his two Xfinity Series races last year at the desert mile. The 22-year-old ran his first Xfinity Series race at Phoenix in November 2019 and it culminated a nine-race schedule that prepared Herbst for his rookie year in 2020.
• Herbst has two starts outside of the Xfinity Series at Phoenix – one in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and one in the K&N Pro Series West. He finished 15th in the 2018 Truck Series race and 10th in the 2019 K&N West race.
• Herbst should feel right at home at the desert mile. He is a third-generation racer from Las Vegas who is taking his family name from the deserts of the southwest to the asphalt tracks of NASCAR. Herbst began racing go-karts at age 5, competing in events up and down the West Coast. He soon followed in his family’s footsteps, transitioning to off-road racing in 2006 where his grandfather, Jerry, and uncles Tim and Ed, and father Troy, are all Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame inductees for being championship-winning off-road racers. But by age 10, Herbst sought a return to pavement, which began with Legends cars before transitioning to Speed Trucks, Super Late Models, the K&N Series, Trucks and, now, the Xfinity Series.
|
|
Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang |
|
What do you want to take away from this weekend’s race at Phoenix? “I’m excited for Phoenix. It’s a cool track that will also play a key role in the race for the championship. Luck hasn’t really been on our side these past few weeks, so hopefully we can turn that around this Saturday. There’s a lot we can learn from this weekend that can transfer over to November, so I’m ready to get to work with Richard (Boswell, crew chief) and the team.”
Have you been watching film after each race to learn for the next one? “Yes, quite a bit. I like to watch the Cup races a lot. Some people just watch their series’ races to prepare, but I like to see how tracks are run in the Cup Series. It’s cool to me that you can learn something from any type of series.”
What’s it like to be the sole focus at Stewart-Haas Racing and not have teammates in the series who you can rely on? “It’s a bit different, to be honest. At Daytona, I had two really good teammates in (fellow Ford drivers) Austin Cindric and Ryan Sieg, and I felt like me and Austin worked pretty well together to keep our Mustangs up front. But, throughout the day-to-day process, it is a little bit different without two to three teammates with you every single week on the track. It’s kind of me just leaning on Richard Boswell than my teammates. But I also have really good Cup teammates who have won a lot of races in the Xfinity program at Stewart-Haas Racing in Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer. I can call up and ask them any questions any time. So, I feel like we’re handling it pretty well.
How does it feel going into these races with no practice and being with a new team? “I don’t feel behind at all this year. Last year was really overwhelming to go to places I had never been before without practice and try to go race there. By the time the final stage of the race rolled around, I was just starting to figure out that racetrack and we were loaded up and headed to the next track the next week. This time around, I’ve been to these racetracks before and I’m definitely more confident in myself, so I’m really looking forward to the rest of this season. I feel like it will definitely be better.”
TSC PR |
