Riley Herbst Notes of Interest |
• The last time the NASCAR Xfinity Series competed on an intermediate-style track was March 20 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, six races ago. Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, finished sixth in that race to score his second top-10 of the season. Now, the series finally returns to an intermediate track with the Alsco Uniforms 300 Saturday at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Herbst is eyeing the 1.5-mile oval as the type of track has been good to him in his still young Xfinity Series career. The 22-year-old racer from Las Vegas has a career-best finish of second, earned twice, and both results came at intermediate tracks – February 2020 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, and July 2020 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.
• Herbst has only one Xfinity Series start at Charlotte. It came last May when he finished 12th. However, Herbst has also made two ARCA Menards Series starts at Charlotte, with his best result being a strong second-place drive in May 2018.
• The Alsco Uniforms 300 will mark Herbst’s 55th career Xfinity Series start. His resume includes six top-fives and 24 top-10s. Herbst has finished in the top-12 in 16 of his last 24 starts on intermediate-style tracks. That solid platform is augmented by the fact that 10 of the past 15 winners on 1.5-mile ovals have been under the age of 26.
• Herbst is one of many drivers happy to return to some familiarity this weekend at Charlotte after last Saturday’s inaugural Pit Boss 250 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, where he overcame two spins to finish 16th. Herbst started the 46-lap race 29th after a wet qualifying session had drivers tip-toeing around the 3.426-mile, 20-turn road course. By lap four, however, Herbst had cracked the top-20, and when another racecar stalled on the track, crew chief Richard Boswell quickly made the call to bring Herbst to pit road before the caution came out on lap 12. The savvy strategy propelled Herbst to 11th, where he finished the first stage, and when others who hadn’t yet pitted finally ducked on to pit road at the end of the stage, it allowed Herbst to start fifth in the second stage. Unfortunately, a spin after contact with another car sent Herbst to the back of the pack for the remainder of the stage. After starting 23rd for the final stage, Herbst rallied back to 13th before contact with another car on lap 43 spun him once more. Herbst drove aggressively in the waning laps, but time ran out and he had to settle for 16th.
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Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang |
What are your thoughts heading into this weekend’s race at Charlotte? “I’m pumped. We’re coming back to Charlotte, which is another nice mile-and-a-half that I enjoy on the NASCAR Xfinity Series circuit. On top of that, there’s practice and qualifying again this weekend, which is another opportunity for us to learn and get better. I’ve had decent runs there in the past, so I hope to build on that and bring home a good finish for the No. 98 Monster Energy team on Saturday.”
You and the team have faced your fair share of adversity this year. Have your goals changed since the season began in February? “My goals will be forever changing as the season goes on. I don’t want to set goals that are unachievable, but I also don’t want to set goals that are too low. I want to be a contender week in and week out. I definitely want to win some races this year. We’ll see how the rest of the season plays out.”
You’ve had some success on intermediate-style tracks like Charlotte. Talk about that. “Charlotte is similar to my home track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway in size, so I’m excited to move on to an intermediate track. The last time we were in at a 1.5-mile track at Atlanta, I finished sixth, so I’m thinking we could have another great run this weekend, as long as we do what we need to do and stay out of trouble. We’ve been putting in the hard work each and every weekend so, hopefully, that pays off on Saturday.”
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