Skip to content

Monster Energy Racing: Riley Herbst Texas NXS Race Report

Riley Herbst Finishes 12th at Texas
Monster Energy Driver’s Top-10 Bid Comes Up Short in Green-White-Checkered Finish

Date: June 12, 2021
Event: Alsco Uniforms 250 Powered by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen (Round 14 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 167 laps, broken into three stages (40 laps/40 laps/87 laps)
Start/Finish: 12th /12th (Running, completed 171 of 171 laps)
Point Standing: 14th (306 points, 304 out of first)
Note: Race extended four laps past its scheduled 167-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Overview:
Riley Herbst came up just two spots short of his fourth top-10 finish of the season in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The No. 98 Monster Energy Ford driver earned his best career Texas finish of 12th on the 1.5-mile oval in the heart of the Lone Star State. After struggling with a tight Ford Mustang in Stage 1, the No. 98 team took a major swing in adjustments on its pit stop during the lap-40 stage break, and the Monster Energy pit crew gained Herbst two spots in the process. After restarting the second stage 11th, Herbst was able to battle his way up to seventh. He ended up ninth in Stage 2 – gaining a valuable two bonus points. After he struggled to pass cars during the final stage, the No. 98 Monster Energy team brought Herbst down pit road during a lap-109 caution for what turned out to be his final stop of the race. The pit crew once again earned its 22-year-old driver another two spots and he restarted ninth on lap 116. Herbst was running 11th when the final caution flag of the day flew on lap 164, sending the race to a green-white-checkered finish. The Las Vegas native restarted 10th but ultimately struggled with the balance of his Ford Mustang as the field headed for the checkered flag.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Man, it was hot, for sure. We finally got track position there at the end, running fifth, and just got loose and fell back to 11th. It was kind of a struggle all day for us, to be honest. But there isn’t a scratch on the car, so that’s good. We’ll walk away from here and learn and get better for when we come back here in the fall.”

Notes:
● Herbst finished ninth in Stage 2 to earn two bonus points.
● Kyle Busch won the Alsco Uniforms 250 Powered by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen to earn his 99th career victory, his second of the season, and his 10th at Texas. His margin over second-place Justin Allgaier was .433 of a second.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 52 laps.
● Twenty-six of the 40 drivers in the Alsco Uniforms 250 Powered by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Cindric remains the championship leader after Texas with a 108-point advantage over second-place A.J. Allmendinger.

Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the Tennessee Lottery 250 on Saturday, June 19 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-