Riley Herbst Wins Xfinity Series Thriller at Indianapolis – Motorsports Tribune

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Ladies and gentlemen, the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

The fans in attendance for Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway certainly got their money’s worth in the return to the famous 2.5-mile oval for the first time in three years.

What looked to be Cole Custer’s race down the stretch turned into a three-car battle royale, with Custer’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Riley Herbst and Aric Almirola joining the fray as the laps wound down.

As the laps clicked away toward the finish, Herbst chewed away at Custer’s lead, which stood as high as 1.4 seconds at one point and with two laps to go, he was right on his teammates rear bumper, ready to strike.

With a bump to Custer to move him up the track off Turn 4 heading to the white flag, Herbst looked to be in the catbird seat to surpass Custer and take over the outright lead, but lurking behind them was Almirola, who was able to pull three-wide with the two Fords and swing around the outside to take the lead for himself heading into Turn 1 for the final time.

However, Herbst wasn’t going to give up the fight, running right in Almirola’s tire tracks through Turns 1 and 2 and down the backstretch, just waiting to make his move.

Much like the move he pulled on Custer to get the lead a lap earlier, Herbst charged down into Turn 3 and got under Almirola enough to get him to wash up the track, allowing him to pull alongside him in the short chute and clear him off Turn 4.

From there it was all defense for Herbst, as he was able to keep Almirola and Custer in his rear-view all the way to the finish line to bank his first win of the season and secure his spot in the Playoffs.