DARLINGTON, S.C: With a playoff spot on the line, Riley Herbst knows he has to do something to make it into the Round of 12 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Starting the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200, the No.98 Monster Energy Ford driver would start the first stage in the 15th position.
Team communication to Herbst from the start was “Don’t overdrive it and save your stuff” from Crew Chief Davin Restivo.
After moving up to the fifth position, a late-stage caution would come out and Herbst would gain valuable points in the points race in the playoffs.
At the stage break, the Stewart-Haas driver would tell the team, “I have no grip. I literally have no rear tires.”
Coming to the pits, the team would give him a set of new tires, fuel and an adjustment to help him out in the 2nd stage.
With the start of stage 2 in the 6th place, a clearly frustrated Herbst tells the team that he is better in turns one and two, but after about four laps, he would tell the team that the car is no better.
“Too loose,” Herbst tells the team, to which he is told, “Nothing we can do about it right now. Ya gotta race what you got.”
Continuing through the stage, Herbst would drop back to the 9th position to end stage two.
Still frustrated, the Las Vegas, NV native tells the team, “Bouncing all over the place, I really need grip. Don’t tell me everyone else has the same thing. ”
Coming to the green flag for the final stage of the race, Herbst starts in the fifth position, but a caution comes out on Lap 104.
Half of the field would come to the pits for tires and fuel, which relegated Herbst to the 13th position, but he would consistently move through the field.
A late race caution by Parker Kligerman, who was the person he was competing against for that final spot in the playoffs, sent the field into NASCAR Overtime.
Finishing the race In the 6th position puts Herbst one point above the cut-off- line going into the regular season finale at Kansas Speedway, but clearly disappointed.
“It’s just frustrating. I don’t think we had a good enough car to win today and that’s our ultimate goal, to come here and win races. The playoff stuff is cool, but I really want to win races now.”
Looking forward, Herbst seemed determined to do better. “I felt we maybe had a sixth-place car today, but we’ll take this Monster Energy car and move on to Kansas and continue to do what we did today. Just execute, run every lap and see where the chips fall.”
Next up for the driver of the No. 98 driver will be the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 9th, 2023, at 3pm E.T.
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