DARLINGTON, S.C.: Riley Herbst’s solid 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series continued Saturday afternoon after the Las Vegas, Nev. native delivered a season-high third place finish in the Mahindra ROXOR 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
With his effort, Herbst has extended his stretch of consecutive top-10 finishes dating back to Richmond (Va.) Raceway in early April.
Herbst had a quiet day at Darlington but took advantage of a late race restart with two laps to go to solidify his fourth top-five finish of 2022 and his best Xfinity finish since finishing fourth in the season-opening race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February.
“I thought it was fairly good from spring last year we finished probably a lap down in 19th, so to come here and finish third and to honestly have a top-five car is just a testament to Stewart-Haas Racing and everyone at Ford Performance and Monster Energy,” said Herbst.
“This wasn’t one of my favorite racetracks, and I still think we need about a tenth a lap to try and win these races here in Darlington, but we’re getting closer and it’s good.”
Since finishing 26th at Circuit of the Americas in March, Herbst said it was his team’s focus to build consistency over the spring and summer stretch and hopefully put the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing team in a good position to participate in the Xfinity Series Playoffs in the fall.
A good car like Herbst noted on Saturday helped his team not only achieve their goals but keep their momentum rolling.
“We were pretty good the first stage,” offered Herbst. “The second stage we were even better and then I messed up on the restart and spun the tires and finished the second stage in ninth or tenth.
“I was pretty bummed out about that and luckily we were able to get our track position back to kind of where we ran all day in the fourth or fifth spot and ended up third. Another top five and another top 10 is just what we need – consistency – and I think we’re doing a pretty good job.”
Restarting third on the final restart and in the inside lane, Herbst knew he needed a flawless restart to keep him in contention for a top-five finish and although he stumbled briefly, he was able to recover coming to the white flag lap and earn his 13th career top-five Xfinity finish.
“I was just thinking not to spin my tires and I did spin my tires. I had to gather it back up and get going down the back straightaway and ultimately we ended up where we should have ended up – third. All in all, pretty good.”
The Xfinity Series takes a one-week break and returns to action at Texas Motor Speedway on May 21st where Herbst, 23, will make his fifth Xfinity start at the 1.5-mile speedway.
In his previous four Xfinity efforts, Herbst has finished a track-best 12th twice – both occurring during the 2021 season respectively.
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