NASCAR Xfinity Series

Riley Herbst finally triumphant in home race

3 Mins read
Credit: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

After 139 starts over five years, Riley Herbst can finally call himself a NASCAR Xfinity Series race winner. To make it even sweeter, he finally knocked that milestone at his home track Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Herbst, whose family is an off-road racing and Las Vegas staple, dominated Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 as he led 103 of 201 laps. He and Stewart-Haas Racing team-mate Cole Custer each won a stage before combining to lead all but one lap in Stage #3; Kyle Sieg, who races for ally RSS Racing, led the only other lap during green-flag pit stops before Herbst reclaimed it.

The dominant performance by SHR culminated in Herbst securing their 100th victory across all three national series. His run was such a masterful performance that he beat second-placed John Hunter Nemechek by nearly fifteen seconds.

The victory also comes just days after signing a contract extension with SHR for the 2024 season.

“I love this town. I love this team,” began Herbst. Davin Restivo (crew chief) believes in me, but I have to give a big shout out to Richard Boswell (SHR’s Xfinity director) because I wouldn’t be the person I am or the race car driver without him. I can’t thank Monster Energy enough: Mitch Covington (senior vice president of sports marketing), Dave Gowan, everybody said I couldn’t do it and those two people stuck behind my my whole career. You don’t even know what this means and what this takes off my chest. I can’t believe it. I love you, Las Vegas.

“I’ve been working on myself and everything I can control. I knew all I could do is all I could do and if there was a caution, there was a caution and we were gonna race them straight up, but oh my goodness. This year was such a failure that we didn’t make the playoffs. It’s so embarrassing to be in a car like this that doesn’t make the playoffs and walk in the garage each week with your head down, but Davin Restivo and all these guys on the #98 team told me to keep my head up and we’re going to go win a race and that’s what we did. I can’t fathom it. I can’t thank Monster Energy enough. I can’t thank my grandfather and mom and dad enough. I’m so emotional, but everybody here at Las Vegas, I love you guys. This is my home. I was born and raised here, so let’s go party and we’re going to celebrate tonight.”

After missing the playoffs, Herbst got to spoil the Round of 8 opener. Playoff drivers occupied second through seventh, with Sheldon Creed and Sammy Smith as stragglers as they finished outside the top ten.

The third stage ran caution-free, a contrast to the massive accident on lap 55 that eliminated Anthony Alfredo, Kaz Grala, Kyle Weatherman, and Josh Williams and resulted in an eight-and-a-half-minute red flag.

Ryan Reed scored a top-twenty finish in his first Xfinity Series race since 2018. He was driving a #66 prepared by Alpha Prime Racing but fielded under the MBM Motorsports banner.

Race results

FinishStartNumberDriverTeamManufacturerLapsStatus
1898Riley HerbstStewart-Haas RacingFord201Running
23820John Hunter NemechekJoe Gibbs RacingToyota201Running
3200Cole CusterStewart-Haas RacingFord201Running
4416Chandler SmithKaulig RacingChevrolet201Running
5141Sam MayerJR MotorsportsChevrolet201Running
677Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet201Running
71021Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet201Running
8139Brandon JonesJR MotorsportsChevrolet201Running
9610Daniel Hemric^Kaulig RacingChevrolet201Running
10911Layne RiggsKaulig RacingChevrolet201Running
111919Myatt SniderJoe Gibbs RacingToyota200Running
1218Josh BerryJR MotorsportsChevrolet200Running
131148Parker KligermanBig Machine Racing TeamChevrolet200Running
14531Parker RetzlaffJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet200Running
15152Sheldon CreedRichard Childress RacingChevrolet200Running
161739Ryan SiegRSS RacingFord199Running
17318Sammy SmithJoe Gibbs RacingToyota199Running
182429Kyle SiegRSS RacingFord199Running
192824Connor MosackSam Hunt RacingToyota199Running
202566Ryan ReedMBM MotorsportsChevrolet198Running
212344Daniel Dye*Alpha Prime RacingChevrolet198Running
221827Jeb BurtonJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet197Running
233545Rajah Caruth*Alpha Prime RacingChevrolet197Running
242725Brett MoffittAM RacingFord197Running
25346Brennan PooleJD MotorsportsChevrolet197Running
262908Stefan ParsonsSS-Green Light RacingChevrolet197Running
273243Ryan EllisAlpha Prime RacingFord197Running
283102Blaine PerkinsOur MotorsportsChevrolet195Running
293728C.J. McLaughlinRSS RacingFord194Running
301651Jeremy ClementsJeremy Clements RacingChevrolet193Running
312174Dawson CramCHK RacingChevrolet193Running
323635Joey GaseEmerling-Gase MotorsportsToyota193Running
332692Josh WilliamsDGM RacingChevrolet56Accident
342078Anthony AlfredoB.J. McLeod MotorsportsChevrolet54Accident
352226Kaz GralaSam Hunt RacingToyota53Accident
361291Kyle WeathermanDGM RacingChevrolet53Accident
373038Joe Graf Jr.RSS RacingFord12Accident
383353Patrick EmerlingEmerling-Gase MotorsportsChevrolet3Accident
DNQ4Garrett SmithleyJD MotorsportsChevrolet
DNQ07Gray GauldingSS-Green Light RacingChevrolet
Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Currently in owner playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points
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Justin is not an off-road racer, but he writes about it for The Checkered Flag.
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