The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series is 12 races into the season — just beyond the one-third mark.
Several moments have highlighted the season so far, such as Austin Hill winning at Daytona International Speedway and the run-ins Ty Gibbs has experienced with Ryan Sieg, John Hunter Nemechek and Sam Mayer. And most recently, Tyler Reddick scored the first victory for Big Machine Racing at Texas Motor Speedway this past Saturday (May 21).
Meanwhile, Riley Herbst is one highlight that is flying just below the radar.
Herbst stepped into the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in February 2021 to replace Chase Briscoe, who scored nine wins in 2020 and raced for a title in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway before graduating to the NASCAR Cup Series. Before that, Cole Custer had a successful 2019 season for SHR, winning seven races and finishing second in points.
The level of expectation for Herbst was substantial. He stepped into a car that competed for wins every week the year prior and nearly won the championship. He was essentially nearly doomed to fall short of expectations.
In all of 2021, Herbst scored 13 top 10s, five top-five finishes and averaged a finish of 17.1. Not only were these numbers down from 2020 when he was with Joe Gibbs Racing (four top fives, 17 top 10s and a 16.0 average finish), it could be argued that a major factor in him making the 2021 Xfinity playoffs was due to Michael Annett’s absence in five of the final nine regular-season races.
In the first 12 races of last season, Herbst only finished inside the top 10 three times and finished 25th or worse five times. His results averaged a 19.3 finish.
After 12 races in 2022, Herbst has nine top 10s under his belt, accompanied by four top fives. His three finishes outside of the top 10 are a 14th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a 38th at Phoenix and a 26th at Circuit of the Americas. He’s slashed his average finish to an 11.1, year-over-year.
To be fair, Herbst’s resume was and still is…
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