To avoid elimination in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, Riley Herbst needs to be on his A game this weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
Herbst enters the cutoff race for the Round of 8 10th in points, but just 10 points below the cut line. But should Herbst fail to advance, 2022 will still have been a career year for the driver now in his third full-time season and second for Stewart-Haas Racing.
The 23-year-old has posted career highs in top fives (seven) and tops 10s (17) in a season and tied his mark for lead-lap finishes (23) with five races still to go. His average finish is the best its been (12.9), and even if eliminated, he could still finish top 10 in points for the first time in his NXS career.
Frontstretch caught up with Herbst prior to the NXS playoffs starting to discuss his 2022 improvements, his quest for his first win, dealing with criticism, his first friend in Charlotte (Ty Gibbs) and entering silly season with Kevin Harvick representing him.
Michael Massie, Frontstretch: You’re on pace to have career highs in pretty much every category. What’s been clicking this year compared to past years?
Herbst: I don’t know really know. We get that question a lot, which is good. That’s a compliment. But we do the same things. Honestly, it’s just been more consistent. Honestly, our finishes, we’d like our speed to be a little bit higher. We’d like to lead a little bit more laps, get some more stage points.
But all in all, it’s been pretty similar preparation wise and whatnot. So just consistency with the team is a big part.
Praying for my good buddy, and our engineer on the 98 car. 🙏
https://t.co/CaMWMeiuAX— Riley Herbst (@rileyherbst) September 23, 2022
Massie: You’re still looking for the first win though. Does that Daniel Hemric run last year inspire you at all, seeing him make the run through the playoffs and then get that first win and the championship?
Herbst: I don’t really know. I don’t really try to compare myself with anybody for sure. I wouldn’t say that. It definitely, I don’t know, weighs us down a little bit. We’re looking forward to winning, and hopefully, here tonight, we can. Just because of the quality of team we have, the quality of car and just the belief that we can go win is weighing on us a little bit. So hopefully we can get that off of our backs here shortly and get the win and go into the playoffs with a full head of steam and try to get to…
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